The Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation has a long history of supporting the expansion of regional cancer services, which includes a $5 million investment to The Ottawa Hospital for the Cancer Centre. The Cancer Foundation is always working in partnership with the Queensway Carleton Hospital to raise $7 million for increased access to services in the west end of our city. To date the Cancer Foundation has allocated $5 million towards the project.
When a patient is undergoing any kind of cancer journey they will experience multiple touches with the healthcare system. When cancer patients arrive at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, a number of the hospital’s cornerstone programs may be part of their cancer experience. A patient may have been admitted through the emergency department and then been referred to the diagnostic imaging department for one of a number of early detection tests and, if surgery ultimately becomes part of a patient’s treatment, these all form part of the compendium of care for a patient at QCH. Here in our community, three in five emergency patients require treatment in the Diagnostic Imaging Department. Patients have access to CT, MRI and a Nuclear Gamma Camera that all play a critical role in fast, accurate and early diagnosis and monitoring of cancers for both men and women.
Patients also have access to the hospital’s cancer screening programs and services for breast health, colorectal screening, endoscopy and colonoscopy services. It is this early detection that plays an integral role in reducing mortality rates, maintaining cancer control and providing treatment to patients in the Ottawa region.