Appointments

Referrals are made to us once you have had a diagnosis of cancer confirmed by your current medical advisor (usually either your GP or cancer surgeon). The most appropriate time for us to become involved will depend on your exact diagnosis and the stage your treatment has already reached.

Before your appointment: We have prepared a letter for you to give to your current medical advisor, which explains the information that we require for an appointment to be made for a patient. Please click here. The letter asks for information which includes: details of the patients’ medical history/report; the results of any investigations such as blood tests and scans; and the histopathology report. All of these documents need to be in English or with an English translation if the originals are in another language.

We strongly prefer the referral to come directly from your current medical advisor either by fax/post. If this is difficult to arrange (for instance if you are an overseas patient) we still require the information set out above, but could you also please complete the Appointment Form and we will contact you. Alternatively call the Patient Referral Team on 0207317 2504 (Monday – Friday 9.30 – 5pm).

If your medical advisor does not know which consultant you should be referred to (For full details of our consuiltants and specialist expertise click here), they should send through the referral directly to the Patient Referral Team via fax on 020 7009 4204. You will be offered the next available appointment with a consultant specialising in your cancer.

We are unable to make a patient appointment with one of our consultants unless we have received the information set out above. Once we have received the referral from your medical advisor the Consultant’s secretary or a member of our  Patient Referral Team will be in contact with you within 24 hours to confirm an appointment.

Please note: We are not able to give medical advice or an opinion by phone or by email.

Referral from your GP Once your NHS or Private GP believes there may be a possibility of a cancer diagnosis; they will typically refer you to a cancer surgeon (or other specialist) for further investigations and possibly surgery. In some cases, particularly when there is already a confirmed diagnosis of cancer, they may consider that it is more appropriate that you are seen straight away by an oncologist, and this is when LOC might be considered.

Many GP’s are aware of us already and may well have suggested our name to you. Otherwise you may want to suggest to your GP that they might consider referring you to LOC. If the GP does not know about LOC, we have prepared for them a special downloadable briefing document about us which you can print out and give to them; please click here.

Referral from your Specialists

Our role is often to work closely with other specialists such as surgeons, physicians and gynaecologists. You may have had investigations by other specialists or surgery which has confirmed a diagnosis of cancer. Your specialist may then refer you to a consultant oncologist for a course of treatment, such as those offered by LOC. If your specialist is not familiar with the services LOC can provide, we have prepared a special downloadable briefing document, which you can print out and give to them; please click here.

The courses of treatment available at LOC include chemotherapy, hormone treatment, and the new biological approaches such as targeted antibody treatments. If you require radiotherapy you can consult with one of the radiotherapy specialists here at LOC, with the radiotherapy itself being carried out at a centre located very close to us.