Haematology

Our haematology team may see you if you need treatment for a blood disease, need a blood transfusion or have blood clotting problems

The conditions we treat include anaemia, leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma amongst others.

We will perform some tests to help with investigation and our team looking after you will explain these to you so you know what to expect. These are mainly blood tests and may be done either as an outpatient appointment or if you are staying with us in hospital.

You may then be asked to come along to one of our clinics where you will be assessed. If a bone marrow test or other investigations are required then these will be performed either at the clinic or on a day unit. A bone marrow test is when we obtain a bone marrow sample under local anaesthetic and no special preparation is usually required.

If you require a blood transfusion or chemotherapy as part of your treatment you can have these in our general hospitals or in our community hospitals at Alnwick and Berwick. You can attend as a day case and do not need to stay overnight.

The treatment you may have depends on your condition but may include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunoglobulin therapy, supportive therapies such as blood transfusions, antibiotics, palliative care and complementary therapies for symptom relief. We also provide targeted drug therapies such as Velcade and Rituximab and venesection.

These treatments can be given alone or in combination with one another and you will be given them as an outpatient, either from the haematology clinic, chemotherapy or oncology day units.

If you need radiotherapy or other treatments such as stem cell harvesting and transplantation, this will take place at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care at Freeman Hospital who we work closely with.

Video consultations

We can offer online consultations where appropriate via a video call to make it easier for you to attend.

Rather than travelling to your appointment, you will receive a text or email before your appointment and simply need to click to join. Find out more here.