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 etc. We hope you enjoy reading about The Trust’s highlights and achievements over the last twelve months.
Apart from Headlines magazine, all of 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 or let us know what information you would like to receive, 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 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
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
- Cheshire
- North West (ex Rest of England and Wales)
- Oldham
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Stockport
- Wigan
The notice of elections was issued on Wednesday 24 April 2024 with the deadline for nominations closing on Thursday 23 May 2024.
Voting packs will be issued on Monday 17 June 2024 to all members to vote for a governor to represent them. Please cast your vote by the deadline of Wednesday 10 July 2024.
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.
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.
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.
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 15 members on each assessment, so they are booked on a first come first served basis.
Local governor elections
Every year in June/July members can vote for their local governor to represent them.
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.
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.
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
Did you know?
This year, we are celebrating the 5th birthday of the UK’s first high-energy proton beam therapy centre. Around 1,270 people have been treated here since it opened its doors in late December 2018.
News from The Trust
This year at The Christie
Welcome to our lookback at another year at The Christie, where we continue with our desire to ensure the very best cancer care for all our patients.
We are very proud of our performance as we continue to recover from the global pandemic which has had such a big influence over the last few years. The ongoing issues of industrial action and financial challenges continue to affect us, but despite this, we remain steadfast in our quest to deliver the highest standards of research, care and treatment for our patients. Our strong operational and financial performance is enabling us to continue to make patient care our highest priority.
We always ask great things of our staff. Exceptional performance is not just expected, it is the norm here, and we are quite rightly proud of everything our excellent teams achieve.
Despite our achievements, we are keen to acknowledge there is always room for improvement, and this year we have been focussing on a plan to address issues raised by the Care Quality Commission following their inspection of the Trust where they rated our services as ‘good’. Central to this has been a wide-ranging independent cultural audit of the organisation, which is ensuring we are listening and putting the views of our staff central to everything we do.
Our expert, dedicated and compassionate staff remain the driving force behind what makes The Christie special. And this newsletter contains many examples of drive to always put our patients first, and our pursuit of innovation and progression towards being a truly world-class cancer centre.
This year, our teams were delighted to move into our new Paterson Building, providing us with a purpose-built biomedical cancer research facility allowing us to develop our research capability like never before. Hand in hand with our partners, The University of Manchester and Cancer Research UK, this new centre will help us achieve our ambition of leading the world in clinical trial recruitment, supporting the development of new and kinder cancer therapies. Our programme of patient-facing clinical research has continued to thrive, giving patients access to new treatments and new hope.
Alongside our research activities, our expertise also remains in demand. We have been able to continue progression in both The Christie School of Oncology and The Christie International. Our world-renowned clinicians continue to be in demand across the globe for their knowledge and experience in cancer care and education.
We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those involved for your commitment and dedication in our goal to provide the very best care for our patients. Our many achievements would not be possible without you.
Christie Colleague Awards
“Her friendly and empathetic nature played an essential role in my journey, and I genuinely don’t know how I would have gotten through it without her.”
These are the words of Maxine Roscoe who nominated Decima - the deserving winner of our ‘Act with Kindness’ award when we reinstated our Christie Colleague Awards this year.
Decima Pigram is a haematology clinical nurse specialist.
Maxine got to know Decima when she began treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia during lockdown in 2020. Maxine singled Decima out as a ‘constant presence who supported her every step of the way’ when she spent much of her time at The Christie in isolation away from family and friends.
Maxine said: “As soon as I met Decima, she recognised how scared I was and took the time to get to know me. She visited me every day, going above and beyond to build a connection with me. She even chatted away with my family and friends while I was on FaceTime with them in my hospital room. She became a friendly face and a welcome visitor, ultimately becoming a friend. She helped me understand the medical terminology, the procedures I would undergo, and simplified the language so I could comprehend what was happening to me. Decima remained a constant presence for me and supported me every step of the way. Undoubtedly, she is a deserving winner of this award.”
We’re proud of all our staff, but there’s nothing nicer than seeing a genuine heartfelt thank you from one of our patients. Thank you Maxine and everyone who nominated a member of our team. And well done Decima – and all our other award recipients. You embody everything that is special about The Christie.
Our pioneering Paterson
This year, the first experiments have been taking place in the new Paterson cancer research centre at The Christie.
The building has been designed with collaboration and teamwork in mind. It’s directly connected to the hospital, meaning patient samples can get to the lab within minutes.
Trials will cover everything from prevention and new treatments to living with and beyond cancer. Research areas include personalised medicine, global genomics, radiotherapy, and surgery.
Invitation to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Annual Members’ Meeting 2024
Please join us for our virtual Annual Members’ Meeting on Wednesday 17 July 2024 at 1pm. The meeting will last about an hour and will include Trust achievements in 2023/24, highlights of the year followed by a Q and A session with chief executive, Roger Spencer and chair, Edward Astle.
The Christie Charity
