Systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) is a type of cancer treatment with medication. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are both types of SACT.

You may hear your doctor refer to your treatment as ‘SACT’ or ‘chemotherapy’. This is because chemotherapy is a type of SACT.

Chemotherapy is where you take medication to kill cancer cells. These are ‘anti-cancer’ drugs and are usually taken either as tablets or through a vein.

If you’re a cancer patient, you might have to stop working and this can mean you’re earning less. This might mean you’re entitled to certain benefits.

You may be entitled to Personal Independence Payments and if you’re over 65, you may be able to claim Attendance Allowance. Your carer could also get Carer’s Allowance if you have substantial caring needs.

Benefits will vary on a case by case basis so you should speak to an expert about this. For benefits advice, contact Maggie’s centre on 0161 641 4848 or email manchester@maggiescentres.org.

The Christie at Oldham also has a benefits advice session on Thursday afternoons. You can phone 0161 918 7745 for more information about this.

The cancer information centre at The Christie can provide general information about cancer and signpost towards relevant counselling or therapeutic services.

If you have any general questions about cancer, you can call the centre on 0161 446 8100 or 0161 446 8107. You can also drop into the centre for help.

If you have a specific question about your cancer and you are a Christie patient, speak to your consultant’s secretary. They can speak to your consultant and ask a member of your clinical team to contact you about your query.

See a list of our consultants and their secretary’s contact details on our Find your consultant page.

Yes – travel insurance is available to cancer patients, depending on what your doctors say. Your doctor will need to confirm you’re fit to travel.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is based in Withington, Manchester. Our address is:

Wilmslow Road,
Manchester, M20 4BX,

United Kingdom

You can find out the best way to get here on our Directions and transport page.

You can submit a freedom of information request to find out information about The Christie NHS Foundation Trust under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI). To find out how to do this, please see our Freedom of information requests page.

Yes, the responses we issues to freedom of information request are collated into a monthly published report. You can see this report on our Freedom of information requests page.

Yes, you can see reports on The Christie NHS Foundation Trust on our Trust Publication Scheme.

The Christie is easily accessible by public transport and is on several bus and train routes.

There is also a Metrolink tram stop at West Didsbury – this is 5 to 10 minutes' walk to The Christie. When you get to the West Didsbury tram stop, there are footpath signs giving directions to The Christie.

You can see the full list of bus and train routes to The Christie on the Transport for Greater Manchester website.

We have a number of on-site car parks for patients and visitors. You can see information about our car parks including costs on our car parking information page.

Car park D is open 24 hours a day. Car park C opens at 5:30am and closes at 10:00pm. You can see information about our car parks including how to pay on our car parking information page.

For patients and visitors parking on the onsite car parks at The Christie, the first 30 minutes are free. After this time, charges will apply. This is currently £1.50 per day.

The Christie Restaurant (department 19) serves snacks and hot meals. M&S Food to Go (department 3) offers a variety of hot and cold food and drinks.

The tea bar (department 42) serves drinks and biscuits and snacks. Drinks are available from WHSmith (department 3).

If you are an NHS patient living in England and get a cancer diagnosis, you can be referred to The Christie by your doctor at your local hospital. See our page on Referrals and second opinions for more information

If you need to make any changes to your appointment or you just want to check the time, you can do this by calling your consultant’s secretary. You can see a list of our consultants and their secretary’s contact details on our Find your consultant page.

If your consultant’s secretary’s contact details aren’t available, please contact switchboard on 0161 446 3000.

You can get in touch with your consultant by contacting your consultant’s secretary. Find a list of our consultants and their secretary’s contact details on our Find your consultant page.

If your consultant’s secretary’s contact details aren’t displayed here, you can call our switchboard on 0161 446 3000. They can put you through to your consultant’s secretary.

If you think you might have cancer, you should speak to your GP about this. They will be able to examine you and may refer you for some tests.

Going to see your doctor and saying that you’re worried can be a lot to deal with. But don’t think you’re wasting your GP’s time. If you think something might be wrong with you, they want to see you.

New patients are usually booked for pre-assessment appointments in 1 hour slots. However, your pre-assessment appointment can be longer than this.

We advise patients to expect to be at The Christie most of the morning or afternoon to allow for any other tests they may need.

Private patients from abroad can select the surgeon they wish to see by either phone or online.

You can find further information on the The Christie Private Care website.