The radiotherapy department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) is open from 07:30 to 18:00, Monday to Friday.
The majority of radiotherapy patients receive treatment as outpatients, where they come to the department daily for their treatment. The number of treatments a patient has will depend on the area being treated and cancer type. A doctor will discuss this before any radiotherapy is planned.
Nobody can stay in the room with a patient whilst the treatment machine is on, but the therapeutic radiographers that are operating the machine can see patients on cameras and have intercoms.
Radiotherapy does not make people radioactive so it is perfectly safe for patients to be with other people, including children, throughout treatment. However, it is extremely important that patients are not pregnant, nor become pregnant during their course of radiotherapy.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is a teaching hospital and has student therapeutic radiographers in the department everyday who are supervised by trained staff. Radiotherapy is delivered by therapeutic radiographers, both male and female.
Appointment times
Radiography plans are complex so there will be a time delay of two to three weeks between the CT planning scan and the start of radiotherapy treatment to allow time for planning.
Please expect each treatment visit to take 20 - 60 minutes, although some specialised treatments may require a visit in excess of an hour.
Patients requiring urgent treatment may have planning and treatment on the same day but this will require a long visit of three to five hours.
It is important that all appointments are kept and patients are advised to telephone the radiotherapy department directly if they are unable to attend.
Please view our radiotherapy contacts page below for the relevant phone number:
Some gaps in treatment are allowed for certain cancer types when machines are serviced, if machines breakdown or during public holidays. Any necessary adjustments will be made to treatment to account for these.
Last reviewed: 05 March 2024