New treatment centre transforming cancer care at Royal Children’s Hospital

A purpose-built treatment centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville is helping make repeated cancer procedures less daunting for young patients while freeing up operating theatres for more complex cases.

The Wurun Treatment Centre opened in March following a $255,212 philanthropic investment from the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF), supported by its Million Dollar Lunch community.

The dedicated oncology space has been designed for children requiring lower-complexity procedures under anaesthesia or sedation, allowing treatment to take place outside the hospital’s main operating theatres.

Early evaluation has found the model is improving the experience of patients and families, supporting better coordination of oncology services and making more efficient use of theatre capacity, while maintaining a strong clinical safety profile.

Seven-year-old Harry was the first patient treated at Wurun after being diagnosed earlier this year with Pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive blood cancer.

He has since returned four times for lumbar punctures with intrathecal chemotherapy and is expected to continue using the centre throughout his next two years of treatment.

His mother Jess said having a quieter and more personal environment had made an extremely difficult experience easier for the family.

“Cancer steals so much of a child’s childhood already, so you don’t want it to take any more than it has to,” she said.

RCH chief executive Dr Peter Steer said the centre represented an important advancement in the hospital’s approach to paediatric cancer care.

“By creating a dedicated environment for these procedures, we’re improving the experience for children and families battling childhood cancer while improving the use of our operating theatres for patients across the hospital,” Dr Steer said.

The project is the latest development in a partnership between the Children’s Cancer Foundation, RCH Foundation and hospital stretching back more than three decades.

Since first supporting the Children’s Cancer Centre in 1992, CCF has contributed more than $30 million towards childhood cancer care across the Melbourne Children’s Campus, including clinical research, specialist staff, family services and treatment facilities.

CCF chief executive Margaret Fitzherbert said the new centre demonstrated what could be achieved through community philanthropy.

“Every family deserves access to the very best care during one of the most difficult periods of their lives,” she said.

“The Wurun Treatment Centre exists because our incredible supporters and Million Dollar Lunch community believed in that vision.”