Welcome to the latest edition of Headlines
Thank you for being a member of The Christie and to everyone who has shared their comments or attended a membership event such as a focus group, a PLACE assessment or attended the Annual Members’ Meeting. We hope you enjoy reading about the Trust’s highlights and achievements over the last twelve months.
Apart from Headlines magazine, all our communications to our members are sent by email. If you haven’t heard from us in a while, it’s likely we don’t have an email address for you. To update your record, please send your name, postcode and email address to: the-christie.members@nhs.net
If you have friends or family who would like to become members, please ask them to visit our website and complete the membership form.
If you would like to update your membership details including the information you would like to receive from us, you can do this on our website.
We would particularly welcome an update about your age and ethnicity so that we can better understand which groups our members represent.
How to contact us and your governor
You are a key part of The Christie and, through the Council of Governors, influence how The Christie is run. Your governors are here to represent you at the highest level. If you have any suggestions, views or concerns and would like to contact your governor, please get in touch with the membership office: The Christie Membership Office, 550 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 4BX
Email: the-christie.members@nhs.net
You can follow The Christie on:
- X (formerly Twitter): @TheChristieNHS, or our Charity @TheChristie
- Facebook: @TheChristieNHS or our Charity @TheChristiecharity
- LinkedIn: @thechristienhs or our Charity @christiecharity
New chair appointed
Professor Joe Rafferty has been appointed as the new Chair of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
Joe succeeds Edward Astle who announced in January he was stepping down for personal family reasons.
He brings over 20 years of board-level experience in NHS organisations to The Christie and is passionate about fostering a culture of innovation and using data to drive planning and decision making.
Governor elections
Governors have the opportunity to influence our work and help develop and improve The Christie for the benefit of patients, their families and local communities. All governors receive training and support, and it is an excellent way to learn more about The Christie and gain a real sense of achievement by helping us to improve.
We have governor elections running in the following areas:
- Bolton
- Bury
- Manchester (constituency with 2 vacancies)
- Oldham
- Remainder of England and Wales
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Trafford
The notice of elections was issued on Thursday 15 May 2025 with the deadline for nominations closing on Monday 2 June 2025.
Voting packs will be issued on Friday 20 June 2025 to all members to vote for a governor to represent them. Please cast your vote by the deadline of Thursday 10 July 2025.
Any queries can be directed to the Returning Officer below:
Abi Walcott-Daniel
Civica Election Services Limited
The Election Centre
33 Clarendon Road
London
N8 0NW
Tel: 0208 829 8412
ftnominationenquiries@cesvotes.com
Keeping in touch
Our membership database has around 9,000 public members who have joined over a number of years. As with most organisations today, we use email as the main way of letting our members know about news, information and events from around The Trust.
We currently have email addresses for less than half of our members and we want to increase this number to make sure we can send you the information you have requested and communicate with as many of our dedicated members as possible.
If you think we haven’t got your email address or you have changed it in the last couple of years, please let us know by emailing us at the-christie.members@nhs.net
There are 3 levels of communications to choose from:
- General information (sent to all our members) – this includes Headlines magazine, your invitation to the Annual Members’ Meeting and other Trust wide events such as open days. We will also contact you to vote for your governor when elections take place.
- Events and meetings – We will let you know about any departmental events or meetings that you might be interested in.
- Focus groups and online surveys – this is a great way to have your say on how we shape and improve our services at The Christie. We will email you with information about these as they are arranged.
To make sure we have your correct details and that we are sending you the information you would like, you can complete the form on our website and we will update your details.
If you no longer wish to be a member and would like us to remove you from our records, please let us know by emailing us at the-christie.members@nhs.net.
Keeping up with news from The Trust
Another great way of keeping up to date with news from around The Trust is to visit our news webpages. Here you can read about the latest Trust developments, patient stories and news from around The Christie.
Governor spotlights – public governor for Manchester
What is your role?
I am a public governor for Manchester, and I am a governor member in the patient safety and experience committee which ensures quality care and promotes the experience of people affected by cancer.
Reasons for becoming a governor
As a patient champion, I am passionate about elevating patients’ voices so that plans, designs, or implementations include their input. Patients and their families know what matters most regarding their care, therefore ensuring the success of this initiatives is always in my mind.
As a carer ambassador, I promote compassion for carers, who often juggle caring responsibilities with their personal lives, often with negative impact to their health and wellbeing. I am advocating that they should be recognised, identified, and supported to continue their caregiving roles with ease.
What do you do as a governor?
As a governor, I actively participate in all matters relating to the Council of Governors, supporting Trust governance, holding non-executive directors to account, and ensuring that patients and their carers are major stakeholders in every plan and strategy of the Trust.
I have been involved in several projects and activities, including:
- carers forums and informing carers grand rounds to support patient carers as well as staff members who are juggling working with caring responsibilities.
- various focus groups with different topics.
- informing and reviewing policies, procedures, and different strategies.
- staff recognition and recruitment activities.
- patient-led assessment of care environment.
Why did you want to become a governor?
All individuals will require care at some point, whether due to a condition affecting the body, mind, or soul, or due to cancer. Quality care is a shared expectation, and it is important to participate in protecting this right.
As someone affected by cancer from a seldom reached group, I observed that there are challenges in securing health appointments, accessing care, or referrals for specialist consultations or treatment, which often leads minorities to seek help in A&E as a last resort when their condition worsened.
As a patient, I experienced ineffective communication between healthcare professionals, and like many carers, I faced minimal recognition and lack of support for my health and wellbeing. Carers contribute significantly to the NHS yet remain largely unidentified and unrecognised.
My biggest challenge is to inspire care providers to ask patients about their caregiving roles at the beginning and end of their journey to address the needs of patients who are also carers. I have also been championing a culture where carers are as central to patient care as patients themselves.
As a member of a Black and other minority group, I advocate for equity, recognising the benefits of ethnicity, diversity, and inclusion in reducing health inequalities. Health and care services should be sufficient for everyone, including marginalised groups such as young and older people and carers
What do you get out of it?
I like participating in a platform that ensures healthcare professionals consider patients and their families in all aspects of care planning, designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating. It is important to maximize participation and engagement of patients, carers, and the public to influence decisions and feel empowered.
Whilst it has never been about me, I just think someone needs to carry the torch to shed the light on the needs, preferences and aspirations of patient and carers, if not me, then who? and if not now, then when?
Governor spotlights – public governor for Cheshire
My name is Mike Norcross - I have been a patient at The Christie since 2007. I’m one of two public governors for Cheshire and vice chairman of the patient safety and experience committee.
In general, a governor’s role is to effectively question, and challenge decisions made by the non-executive directors (NEDs) probing their actions throughout all of the Trust’s operations.
Within the patient safety and experience committee remit, I particularly enjoy Talking to Patients sessions – I’m always happy to engage with patients and listen to opinions about their cancer journeys, experiences and insights.
As a patient I have always been fascinated, and remain so, as to why The Christie feels so very different to any other hospital environment and that was one of the reasons behind applying to become a governor. What is immediately obvious to anyone who walks into this hospital is that the attention to detail and kindness that the staff display is unequalled. Indeed, you will find the same level of care and attention across all the Trust sites. As a governor I have the chance to dig deeper and discovery many other reasons why the Trust is exceptional in almost every detail.
I’m Cheshire born and bred and couldn’t be prouder to represent the people of my home county as public governor. The role is enlightening and rewarding in equal measure and, as with all the best things in life, the more you put in the more you get out.
The Christie Charity Spotlight events
Spotlight events are a unique opportunity to hear about Christie Charity funded research projects, treatments, equipment and services in the hospital.
Leading scientists and clinicians provide a fascinating insight into their own area of work and the ongoing advances being made in treatment and research. These projects are made possible due to funds raised by The Christie Charity and its supporters.
Previous Spotlight events included an insight into the teenage and young adult service. Professor Martin McCabe and Dr Hannah Slevin spoke about how research and specialist care is at the forefront of this service, helping young people cope with the symptoms of their illness and their cancer treatment. A young patient Claudia Boardman also kindly shared her experience.
Our Spotlight events are free and open to anyone interested in finding out more from world-leading clinicians about their own area of work and to learn about the vital impact The Christie Charity has on the life-saving and life-changing work taking place at The Christie.
To find out more and for information on future events, please visit our Spotlight events page on our Charity site.
How can I get involved more as a member?
Aside from sharing any feedback with us about The Christie, the Trust runs several membership events every year that are only available to our members. Information about these events are sent via the email address we hold for you; which is why it is so important that we have an email address for you. Please get in touch if you think we don’t have your email address or if you have changed email addresses in the last 5 years.
Email the-christie.members@nhs.net to find out more or to check we have the correct email address for you.
These membership events include:
The Annual Members’ Meeting
This is an online streamed event which gives members an annual update on The Trust’s achievements and highlights. is followed by a question-and-answer session with our Chief Executive and Chair.
Focus groups
These are usually held on the last Thursday of each month via Zoom, and you can access Zoom via a computer, tablet or smartphone. Each one is on a different topic, and members give their opinion and feedback on a range of topics helping us to improve our services. They are informal with an introduction from a Christie staff member followed by questions and comments from our members.
We usually have about 10 members on a focus group, so they are booked on a first come first served basis.
Patient-led assessments of the care environment (PLACE) assessments
Our PLACE assessments take place every year to help us to make positive changes by gathering feedback on how we can improve the environment where we deliver our services to patients. They are a national requirement for Trusts.
Each year we assess a couple of our sites.
Members who are participating must be able to attend a training event as well as the assessment.
We usually have 20 members on the Withington assessment and 5 at Macclesfield, so they are booked on a first come first served basis.
Local governor elections
These take place every year from May and members can vote for their local governor to represent them. Governors have the opportunity to influence our work and help develop and improve The Christie for the benefit of patients, their families and local communities.
Our governors represent 13 constituent areas including Bolton, Bury, Cheshire, Manchester, Northwest, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Glossop, Trafford, Wigan and rest of England.
Notice of the elections is given prior to voting, outlining which areas will be running governor elections that year.
Surveys
Throughout the year, we may send surveys to members to complete and give their feedback to help improve our service to our patients, carers and families. Your feedback is really important to us so that we make changes that you want to see.
Join us and celebrate different cultures at The Christie
We will be holding our cultural event once again at The Christie on:
Thursday 10 July, 3pm to 5pm
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, The Auditorium, Education Centre (department 17), Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 4BX
Come and tour some of The Christie, learn about our commitment to accommodating cultural diversity in healthcare and the importance of EDI from guest speakers. You will also discover how we cater to diverse needs.
For more information or to book your place, please email the-christie.members@nhs.net by Friday 27 June 2025.
Volunteering at The Christie
Could you be a volunteer?
Our volunteers work in non-clinical roles across a range of departments and make a huge difference to our patients’ experience by giving their time.
Volunteers can work up to 10 hours a week but must first successfully complete our mandatory training, as well as DBS and ID checks.
We want our teams to reflect the diversity of the patients and communities we serve and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and identities.
To find out what volunteering roles we have available and to apply for specific roles, please visit our volunteering pages.
All about our patients
News from The Trust
The Christie's newest recruit
We’ve welcomed a very special four-legged colleague to the team here at The Christie.
Lilo, a black cocker spaniel, is a therapy dog. She’s been coming to the hospital every couple of weeks to visit children who are having proton beam therapy – a type of radiotherapy.
Being diagnosed with cancer can be just as tough mentally as it is physically. Spending time with Lilo helps with the children’s physical, mental, and emotional health, bringing comfort and a sense of normality to what can be a difficult time for them and their families.
Ellie-Mae Shirley had 33 daily sessions of proton beam therapy at The Christie. She met Lilo early on in her treatment journey.
“She was so excited as soon as she saw Lilo,” says her dad, Adam. “She absolutely loves animals and spent a lot of time just petting her and playing with her. It gave her something to look forward to after treatment.
My parents have a dog, so I think it’s helped her feel more comfortable coming in for treatment.” – Ellie-Mae’s dad, Adam
We are The Christie
Each and every person who works at The Christie performs a valuable role, which directly links to patient care.
Whether it is a nurse delivering chemotherapy treatments, a member of the administration team sending out an appointment letter, a surgeon performing a high-tech procedure, a domestic ensuring our wards are spotlessly clean, or an IT engineer keeping our computer systems running, there is a huge variety of roles that come together to make The Christie special. All our staff go to tremendous lengths to help each and every one of our patients.
Linda arranges transport for patients who need help getting to hospital and was one of the first members of staff we featured in our new series of staff stories on social media and on our website.
Invitation to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Annual Members’ Meeting 2025
Please join us for our Annual Members’ Meeting on Thursday 11 September 2025 at 3pm. The meeting will last about an hour and will include Trust achievements in 2024/25, highlights of the year followed by a question and answer session with our Chief Executive, Roger Spencer and Chair, Professor Joe Rafferty.
There will be the opportunity to meet some of our governors, directors and other members of The Christie team prior to the meeting from 2.30pm. Please visit our Visiting The Christie page for details of how to get to The Christie.
"There are many ways in which you, as a member, can support The Christie such as voting for your local governor or taking part in surveys. Some of you are active supporters of The Christie Charity as well as members and we really appreciate the time and the hard work you give.
"I hope you will join us on Thursday 11 September. If you intend to come to the Annual Members’ Meeting it would help us if you could let us know by calling 0161 446 8616 (answer phone) or by email to the-christie.members@nhs.net."
- Professor Joe Rafferty, Chair
Notice is given that the Annual Members’ Meeting of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will be held at 3pm on Thursday 11 September 2025.
The business will be as follows:
- to receive the annual report and accounts 2024/25
- to receive the report of the auditor
- to receive a report on membership issues
- to receive the results of the election and appointment of governors, by order of the Council of Governors, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
