A National Clinic for All of Sweden

Since 2015, Skandionkliniken in Uppsala has been the first clinic in the Nordic region to offer proton beam therapy for cancer and other tumor diseases. We are the only clinic in Sweden that provides proton therapy, and we accept patients from all parts of the country.

Broad expertise

Skandionkliniken has two treatment rooms, called gantries, for proton therapy. We also have a CT scanner (computed tomography) used to check treatment positioning and radiation doses.

Many different professional groups work at the clinic: oncologists, medical physicists, oncology nurses, technical staff, assistant nurses, and administrative staff. We also have access to specialists from all seven university hospitals.

Seven regions run Skandionkliniken

Skandionkliniken is backed by the seven Swedish regions that have university hospitals. Together, they operate the Municipal Association for Advanced Radiotherapy, which has two missions:

• to run Skandionkliniken, meaning to create the conditions for optimal treatment with proton radiation, as well as to develop and evaluate the clinic’s activities;

• to operate Hotel von Kraemer, where patients and relatives can stay during the treatment period.

Collaboration as a working model

Skandion Clinic’s operations are based on the principle of distributed expertise. This means that treatments at the clinic are carried out in collaboration with the hospital responsible for the patient. The hospital maintains medical responsibility throughout the treatment period.

The patient is assessed and prepared at their local hospital. The treatment then takes place at Skandion Clinic, and follow-up and monitoring are handled by the patient’s own hospital afterward.

Skandion Clinic and the university hospitals also hold joint video conferences, so-called rounds, where experts from the university hospitals and Skandion Clinic together evaluate whether proton therapy or conventional radiation therapy is most suitable for the patient. Skandion Clinic and the university hospitals also share common systems for radiation dose planning and information exchange.

Distributed expertise also means that staff from the university hospitals work at Skandion Clinic on a rotating schedule. Each week, one physician and two medical physicists from one of the university hospitals come to participate in the proton therapy treatments.