General Information
The virtual Hospital Departments of Clinical Oncology and Clinical Radiology will guide you through the experience of a visit to these Departments in your hospital. However they cannot be expected to provide all of the information about your particular symptoms or your condition, nor will they necessarily reflect your precise experience. If you have an appointment to visit either Department within your own hospital you will receive appointment details and a written description of what you are to expect during your visit. Many hospitals have information sheets or booklets about a wide variety of illnesses and the Department of Oncology will certainly have booklets describing your condition, the effect on you and your family and the effects of treatment. If you have not received details please request these from the Department, either before or at the time of your visit.
The Royal College of Radiologists has information about a wide variety of investigations and this information is contained within this web site. These information sheets can be found in the publications on this site. The NRPB produces information about the effect of x-rays. It is particularly important for those who are worried about radiation dose to recognise that for x-rays used in diagnosis the dose is extremely slight and without significant side effects.
Most hospitals will now have their own web site and Departments of Clinical Radiology and of Clinical Oncology will often have pages within the hospital web site itself. This will provide information about opening times, staff and the nature of examinations that are carried out within each Department.
The Virtual Hospital Departments in the College Web site cannot answer all of your questions about what is wrong with you or what expect from treatment.
There is information on the World Wide Web about most diseases and illnesses. Some of the information is extremely accurate and informative but sometimes it is less accurate and may even recommend untried remedies. Your Doctor or Specialist will usually explain things to you, although the results of some tests will not be immediately available and will have to be communicated to your Doctor at a later date. Each department will have information as to how long this is likely to take.
Finally for patients with cancer there are a number of sources of information and support. These maybe general, such as CancerBACKUP, or specific for a particular type of cancer, such as ovacome. The virtual Department has links to some of the best known of these listed below but more information would be available from your own department.