Chinwag - Autumn 2019

Chinwag

Staff Magazine Autumn 2019

Celebrating with City: Manchester City brings in its record-breaking trophy haul

Philanthropist donates £4.5m to The Christie – P8

staff awards event – P4 All the news from our annual

celebration event – P3 Staff have fun at our summer

Introduction & contents

Welcome to the summer  edition of Chinwag 

Welcome to the latest edition of our staff magazine which I hope you will find interesting and informative. As ever, there is much to celebrate here at The Christie and I’m particularly delighted this edition features the details of our annual staff awards – a true occasion for celebration. I couldn’t be more proud of all my colleagues at The Christie, but this event in particular is an important reminder of just how forward-thinking and committed our team is.

The fact that almost 300 people were nominated shows the true depth of talent we have at The Christie. Our staff awards are all about celebrating the dedication and innovation shown to our patients by staff and it is important to recognise that. All our winners should be very proud of their efforts and their willingness to put patient care at the centre of everything we do.

Roger Spencer, Chief Executive

Chief Executive Roger Spencer

Contents Corporate news

Follow us on Twitter @TheChristieNHS or our charity on @TheChristie Like our charity Facebook page facebook.com/TheChristiecharity and our Trust page at facebook.com/ TheChristieNHS Connect with The Christie LinkedIn company profile Hear from Christie staff, patients, volunteers and fundraisers via our weekly blog christie.nhs.uk/blog Follow our charity on Instagram @christiecharity Get in touch If you have any news, achievements, team updates or interesting stories you would like to share in Chinwag, contact the communications team on ext. 3613 or 3840 , or via email communications.team@christie.nhs.uk

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Staff news

18-20

Making the headlines

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HR news

22-23 24-25 26-27

Charity news

Where there’s a will

Research news

28 29

The Christie Private Care You made a difference

30-31

Quick quiz

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Corporate news

Our annual staff garden party took place in July on a gloriously hot and sunny day. A summer soiree

The catering team did us proud with a fabulous spread of mini cakes and drinks and lots of people, including our nursery staff and children, enjoyed the large garden party games in The Christie gardens. Entertainment was provided by our HR brass quartet and The Christie charity also had a promotional stand which was popular with staff and visitors alike. A number of staff took part in the bake-off competition which was judged by the Greater Manchester inaugural hat competition with prizes awarded to ‘best dressed’ hat and ‘best made’ hat. Our Chair Christine Outram awarded the certificates together with station manager, Chris Hanson. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who took part. The winners of the categories were: Cakes Christopher Bell – lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake Traybake Ally Braden – banana bread Best dressed hat Nazari Roonak – beezy Best made hat Donna Chabane – life’s a merry-go-round Fire and Rescue Service. In addition, this year was the

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Staff awards: a glittering night to celebrate success

A Christie worker who was homeless for 20 months has been honoured at the Trust’s annual staff awards.

Also honoured were senior healthcare assistants, Tony McKenzie and Danny Lee who both received the ‘exceptional standards of quality and care’ award. Their work in setting up four phlebotomy clinics across Greater Manchester has meant that hundreds of Christie patients can have blood taken closer to home rather than having to come to the hospital. Nearly 300 staff were nominated for accolades at the event hosted by former Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye, as well as our Chief executive, Roger Spencer and Chair, Christine Outram. Other accolades included the ‘Innovation and improvement’ award, which was given to financial systems manager Simon Colebrook and HR operational service lead, Richard Wilkinson, for their work on improving recruitment.

The Christie switchboard team was also honoured in the ‘behind the scenes’ category while senior sister, Aislinn Giles was given the ‘rising star’ accolade for her work on the oncology assessment unit ward. The ‘contribution to research’ award was given to research and development manager Lifen Wang who has worked at The Christie for over 20 years, while the positive working relationships team won the ‘partnership working’ award. Porter, Michael Hoyland was given the ‘Christie values’ award for his outstanding commitment to caring for patients. Consultant endocrinologist Dr Claire Higham and Macmillan network survivorship manager, Ben Heyworth, were given the ‘contribution to education’ award for their work in developing The Christie’s living beyond cancer project.

Clerical officer Paul Kamara

won the ‘Learner of the year’ award after he demonstrated his will to succeed having joined the Trust as a volunteer in October 2018. Paul, 42, had been without a home since losing his job in security at Manchester Airport in 2016, but managed to gain a position as a clerical officer at the Trust after taking a four week course at Trafford College in health and social care. He is now working with the clinical oncology team helping to process patient appointments and provide clinical notes. Paul said: “I am extremely honoured to receive the award and hope it shows how hard work and a willingness to learn can pay off. “After I lost my job I lost my house and lived on the streets. I am extremely proud to get this award as it shows how far I have come and I hope my story can inspire others who find themselves on the streets that they can turn their life around. “I want to say a huge thankyou to The Christie for helping and believing in me.” Lauded for learning: Paul Kamara with Victoria Ekanoye

Our winners: Exceptional standards of quality and care: Tony McKenzie and Danny Lee – senior healthcare assistants with the chemotherapy team Innovation and improvement: Simon Colebrook from finance and Ric Wilkinson from workforce Behind the scenes – non clinical staff: The switchboard team Rising Star: Aislinn Giles – Senior Sister on OAU Partnership working: The positive working relationships policy team comprising of Staff Side, Freedom To Speak Up Guardian and Workforce The Christie values: Michael Hoyland – porter from estates and facilities The Christie award for contribution to research: Lifen Wang – Research and Development Manager The Christie contribution to education: Dr Claire Higham, Consultant Endocrinologist and Ben Heyworth, Macmillan Survivorship Network Manager Learner of the year: Paul Kamara, Clerical officer in Medical Oncology Further details are available via the following pages on HIVE: https://hive. xchristie.nhs.uk/interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id=9686

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Corporate news

The staff awards are all about celebrating the dedication and innovation shown to our patients by staff and it is important to recognise that. All our winners should be very proud of their efforts and their willingness to put patient care at the centre of everything they do.

Roger Spencer, Chief Executive

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Corporate news

The Christie at Macclesfield

Planning permission has been granted for our new Christie Cancer Centre in the grounds of Macclesfield District General Hospital, which will provide Christie cancer care closer to home for more than 1,500 new patients a year.

Bringing The Christie to Cheshire: an artist’s impression of the new centre

Demolition of the existing facilities will start in the new year, with the development of the facility to commence in April 2020. The Christie charity has launched a major new fundraising appeal to raise £23m to fund the project which has got off to a flying start with £2m already raised.

We were delighted to welcome the Manchester City trophies to The Christie in June. They were displayed in our Oak Road reception area for patients, staff and visitors to have their photo taken with this year’s trophy haul. A big thank you to City legend Mike Summerbee for coming down and having his photo taken with our patients and staff. Meanwhile stars from Manchester City Women’s Football Club were on hand to help switchboard operator Keith Moran (pictured centre with Chief Executive Roger Spencer) celebrate a magnificent 40 years’ service at The Christie. City celebrations

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Corporate news

Our plans get the go-ahead

And our exciting plans continue to make pace with the additional news that we were also awarded £25 million by the Research England UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF). The new research facility, currently known as the Paterson Redevelopment Project (PRP), will be built at The Christie on the site of the old Paterson building, which suffered fire damage in April 2017, displacing over 300 scientists and support staff. The PRP is a multi-million pound development led by The Christie on behalf of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC), an internationally renowned partnership between The University of Manchester, Cancer Research UK and The Christie. In 2018, the partnership announced its ambitious plans for the future of the site, which is now being part Our plans to create a globally leading cancer research centre moved forward in August after Manchester City Council’s planning and highways committee members voted in support of the planning application for the redevelopment of the Paterson building. This decision will now go back to planning officers ahead of a final decision which will be issued in September.

£25m funding boost: an artist’s impression of what the new centre could look like

next wave of incredible research to better prevent, diagnose and treat cancer with the highest calibre of basic and translational science.” Construction works will start on the new building in the next few months. For further information go to www.christie.nhs.uk/about-us/ our-future/our-developments/ development-of-the-paterson-site/

funded through Round 6 of Research England’s flagship capital investment scheme, the UKRPIF. The new development will be a major step forward in realising MCRC’s ambition of becoming one of the world’s top five centres for basic, translational and clinical cancer research. It will also enable research growth, as well as facilitating a ground-breaking approach to how research partnerships work together by embedding the facility within a cancer hospital. Professor Rob Bristow, Director of MCRC, explains: “Receiving planning permission is an important milestone in this project and means we can move onto developing our plans in finer detail and really make progress. Coupled with the recent investment injection, it is really fantastic news. This new build is a manifestation of Manchester’s ambition to create the

Professor Rob Bristow

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Corporate news

£4.5 donation to boost research Patients with cancers of the mouth and throat are set to benefit from a phenomenal gift of £4.5m, donated to The Christie by businessman and philanthropist Ian Taylor.

The funding will support the UK’s first ever clinical trials for patients using proton beam therapy, which are due to start later this year. The donation to The Christie is part of £15m pledged by Mr Taylor on behalf of the Taylor Family Foundation to head and neck and proton beam therapy cancer research in the UK. Mr Taylor was treated with proton beam therapy at a clinic in Switzerland in 2018 for throat cancer. The donation will support the work of Dr David Thomson, a specialist in head and neck cancers at The Christie in clinical trials, scientific research, innovation through translational science and the training of future leaders in the treatment of head and neck cancer. The core costs for this UK first trial are being funded by Cancer Research UK, but the Taylor Family Foundation donation will widen access to proton beam therapy trials by helping with patient and carer travel costs for those who live a long way from Manchester and who will need treatment over a seven week period.

Members of the Taylor Family Foundation met with experts at The Christie

The donation will also help to train up future proton beam therapy research leaders through the establishment of The Taylor Family Foundation Proton Fellowship to support three new research fellows working at The Christie. Dr David Thomson said: “This phenomenal donation is incredibly generous, and will make a real difference to patients. In partnership with Cancer Research UK we aim to lead the way in establishing the clinical benefit of proton beam therapy. This will be underpinned by exceptional biological and physical science, to help understand how we can personalise and best use it to improve survival outcomes and long-term quality of life for future patients.” stronger X-rays. The £5.3M machine was part-funded thanks to donations made to The Christie charity. Since the first patient treatment at the UK’s first NHS high energy proton beam centre in December, The Christie is now one of only two sites worldwide to offer both these pioneering radiotherapy treatments. The MR-guided linear accelerator combines magnetic MR scanning and tumour-busting radiotherapy to deliver magnetic resonance radiotherapy in one hi-tech package. Dr Cynthia Eccles, consultant research radiographer at The Christie, said: “This is a significant moment in radiotherapy treatment here at The Christie. Around 40 per cent of people being treated for cancer receive a form of radiotherapy and The Christie accounts for around one in 20 NHS treatments in the UK. “In order to fully unlock the potential of radiotherapy by making it even more precise we need to be at the forefront of technology and this machine allows us to target cancer and avoid healthy tissue while delivering the radiation treatment.”

MR-linac treatment underway

TREATMENT NOWUNDERWAY: L to R Lisa Mcdaid, Rosie Hales, John Rodgers, David Hudson, Prof Ananya Choudhury and Dr Cynthia Eccles

A man diagnosed with three separate cancers within three years became the first patient to be treated at The Christie using a revolutionary radiotherapy machine in May. David Hutson, 60, was treated for prostate cancer using the MR-guided linear accelerator (MR-linac) which is the first machine of its kind to do real-time MRI scans while it targets X-ray radiation beams at tumours, making it more accurate and reducing side effects. Being able to more specifically target tumours and not healthy tissue around them means the machine can use

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Royal honour for our Chair Congratulations to our Chair, Christine Outram, who was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s first NHS trust in the country to receive back to back ratings of ‘Outstanding’ by the health regulator the Care Quality Commission.

‘Trek the Alps’ challenge, a breathtaking 46km trek

Chris Outram

Birthday honours list in June. The award is recognition for Chris’s huge contribution to the NHS over more than three decades, and the visionary leadership she has demonstrated, with more than 20 years experience driving improvements at an executive level. Chris joined The Christie in October therapy, a new outpatients facility and a state of the art Integrated Procedures Unit which improves patient experience and streamlines services. As Chair, Chris has steered the board in supporting The Christie to be the Congratulations to our Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Nursing and Quality, Jackie Bird who has been appointed to the role of Chief Nurse in the North West by NHS England and NHS Improvement. Jackie, who lives in Tintwistle near Glossop, took up the postition in September. Commenting on the appointment, Christie Chief Executive Roger Spencer said: “We are absolutely delighted that our Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Quality, Jackie Bird has been made Chief Nurse for the North West for NHS England and NHS Improvement. “Since taking up the role at The Christie in 2011, Jackie has made a huge impact at the Trust, helping us 2014. She has led the board in supporting the development of services including proton beam

through the Mont Blanc region of the Alps passing through Italy and Switzerland into France in just three days. Roger Spencer, Christie Chief Executive, said: “This is a thoroughly well deserved award, marking three decades of dedication to improving health and the NHS. Chris has played a pivotal role in supporting the transformation of The Christie from a centre of excellence for the North West into a world class cancer centre.” Chris is currently awaiting her invitation to Buckingham Palace where she will receive her honour from a member of the Royal family. of the Christie Quality Mark, which reassures patients they will receive the highest possible care wherever The Christie services are delivered. Jackie said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as the Chief Nurse of the North West and look forward to working with the regional team and colleagues across the North West.” Julie Gray, current Associate Chief Nurse and Deputy Director of Quality, has become our interim Chief Nurse and Director of Quality. This will be for a period of six months while we undertake a recruitment process to make a new permanent appointment. Jackie Bird

Chris’s first role in the NHS was as a patient advocate, and she continues to be passionate about working with patients and clinical staff to provide excellent services and outcomes for people. She has encouraged a high level of patent engagement in all new projects and service developments at The Christie and was an early advocate of Twitter to encourage patients and staff at the Trust to share their feedback and raise issues of importance. The Christie charity has also found a passionate champion in Chris. She has supported many charitable events and has just taken part in the charity’s become the only specialist trust in the country to be awarded ‘Outstanding’ status by the Care Quality Commission twice. “Jackie has a wealth of experience in nursing and this has been acknowledged in a number of awards she has won during her career. We are extremely proud that she has been chosen for such a high profile role and wish her every success. At The Christie we are proud of the calibre of staff we employ, many of who are leaders in their field and Jackie exemplifies the drive for improvement and excellence which underpins The Christie’s status as one of the leading hospitals in the world for cancer treatment and research.”

Chief Nurse Jackie

At The Christie, Jackie was instrumental in the creation

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Two top medical scientists at The Christie recognised

Two of Manchester’s top cancer research scientists have been selected to join an esteemed group of the greatest minds in medical science. The Academy of Medical Sciences has awarded fellowships to Director of Research, Professor John Radford and Professor Rob Bristow the research division’s Chief Academic Officer and Co-Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre. Professor John Radford and Professor Rob Bristow are the only two fellows to be elected this year from the North West. And they are two of just three clinicians from the North of England.

Professor John Radford

Professor Rob Bristow

The pair have been selected for their outstanding contributions to advancing medical science, cutting edge research discoveries, and translating developments into benefits for patients and wider society. Congratulations to them both.

University promotions Senior clinicians from The Christie have been honoured with prestigious promotions from The University of Manchester. Dr Emma Crosbie and Dr Fiona Thistlethwaite have both been awarded honorary academic chairs and will become professors as recognition for being international leaders in their field of expertise.

Dr Bloor is a consultant haematologist. He has an expertise in management of a wide range of haematological malignancies (lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma) with a special interest in the management of lymphoid malignancies (CLL and lymphoma), stem cell transplantation and in clinical trials. Dr Julie Handley is a consultant clinical scientists and is head of radiotherapy physics at The Christie. Dr Mansoor is a consultant in medical oncology. He is the clinical director of medical oncology and specialises in treating upper gastrointestinal cancer. Professors usually work within hospitals and hold an honorary position at The University of Manchester. Honorary clinical chairs are awarded on an annual basis by the university’s Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences Promotions Committee.

Dr Crosbie is a consultant gynaecological cancer surgeon whose research interests include screening, prevention and the early detection of gynaecological cancers, as well as developing new treatments and interventions for women with established disease. Dr Thistlethwaite is a medical oncology consultant within the experimental cancer medicines team. Her clinical practice is in experimental cancer medicine and immune-oncology and her academic focus is clinical trial development in immunotherapy and adoptive T-cell therapy. Meanwhile Dr Adrian Bloor, Dr Julia Handley and Dr Was Mansoor have been honoured with a Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) Honorary Clinical Chair by The University of Manchester. The MAHSC chairs, which were initiated six years ago, recognise those individuals who have made a major contribution to their clinical speciality.

Dr Thistlethwaite

Dr Bloor

Dr Handley

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Corporate news

Advanced immune and cell therapy team

The advanced immune and cell therapy team (AICT) is a newly established research team specialising in adoptive T-cell therapy products, such as tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy (TIL) and T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy, and complex immunotherapies in solid tumours. Adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) consists of isolating, with or without genetically modifying, expanding and reintroducing tumour-specific T cells (lymphocytes) into patients with cancer in order to use the patient’s own immune system to fight the cancer and create a sustained anti-tumour response. The team structure involves consultants, an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP), a research nurse team leader, clinical research nurses, a senior clinical trials co-ordinator and a senior practice educator. The team has a growing portfolio of early phase trials across a range of disease areas, such as melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, liver cancer and synovial sarcoma. The team is partially funded from the iMATCH project (Innovate Manchester Advanced Therapies Centre Hub). This is a North West consortium, led by The Christie in collaboration with Manchester Foundation Trust and The University of Manchester and other 9 commercial partners, aiming to scale-up advanced therapies for a range of conditions, not just oncology. The AICT team allows patients to access innovative treatments in the context of research and raises the profile of The Christie at a national and international level. Moreover, the iMATCH project is a unique opportunity to place Manchester at the vanguard of advanced therapies arena. Providing access to these exciting therapies in at The Christie, the AICT team reaches out to the vast population of the North West area, avoiding the need for patients to travel long distances to be treated with T-cell therapies. Extensive work has been done across the Trust to ensure staff are fully trained and educated due to the complexity of these therapies. Furthermore, as part of iMATCH, the AICT team is involved in standardising the education packages and patient pathway across the region. Internal and external partnerships with different disease areas and institutions are an essential part of the delivery of these treatments, so any suitable patient can be considered for these emerging cellular therapies in the context of a clinical trial.

In order to gain in-depth knowledge of advanced therapies, Michelle Davies (ANP) was recently awarded with a travel bursary with other Christie delegates to visit several centres of excellence in the USA. Another team achievement is the presentation of two posters in the UKCRF conference in June 2019 by Laura McNab, Michelle Davies and some research nurses from the Clinical Research Facility. The lead consultant of the AICT team is Dr Fiona Thistlethwaite, medical oncologist (advanced immune & cell therapy team/ECMT and iMATCH project director), who has been instrumental in the development of the AICT team and the wider iMATCH vision. Fiona is now joined at consultant level by Dr Manon Pillai who is working across the AICT and renal teams. Manon has significant experience of managing patients receiving cell therapies from her time as a clinical fellow at The Christie. Fiona Thistlethwaite said: “As we see CAR-T therapies coming into standard of care practice for B-cell leukaemias and lymphomas, there is great interest in extending the availability of clinical trials of cell therapy to a broader range of malignancies including solid tumours. Through the AICT we are extremely well placed to be at the leading edge of developments in this exciting field.” Early engagement with other disease teams at The Christie and other hospitals ensures that patients are referred to the AICT teams in a timely manner, maximising the chances of patients receiving these treatments. Clinicians are encouraged to refer potential patients for consideration to Dr Thistlethwaite/Dr Pillai via referral letter, mark FAO: Advanced immune and cell therapy team. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the AICT team using their email address: ATMPteam@ christie.nhs.uk or calling ext. 2325/2375. Further iMATCH information can be accessed at the Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres network website: www.theattcnetwork.co.uk/

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Volunteer celebration event

The event was to give a special thank you from chief executive Roger Spencer and chair of

As part of volunteers’ week, we hosted our annual celebration event in June.

The Christie, Chris Outram,for all the hard work our volunteers have put in over the past year.

We also gave out some long service awards for those who have reached their 10th and 20th years of volunteering at The Christie. At The Christie we currently have 157 active volunteers in 21 different job roles. Our volunteers range from 16 to 91 years old, and have a wide range of duties. What’s more, 32 of our current active volunteers have volunteered for 10 years or more. It’s this long-time dedication – as well as the commitment of our newer volunteers – that makes our volunteers truly invaluable.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME: Volunteers at The Christie are invaluable

By royal appointment in Jordan

The Christie colorectal and peritoneal oncology centre (CPOC) team represented by Mr Omer Aziz and Professor Sarah O’Dwyer were honoured recently by Her Royal Highness Princess Ghida Talal of Jordan for their efforts establishing cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC) at The King Hussein Cancer Centre in Amman, Jordan. Since Professor O’Dwyer and Mr Aziz performed the first two procedures in Jordan with the KHCC team, they have gone on to perform another 10 cases. The Christie CPOC is continuing this relationship by offering educational support and oversight in Jordan as well as looking to set up virtual MDT case discussions through The Christie International. As part of this, The Christie CPOC team including Dr Rohit Kochhar (consultant radiologist) was also there to launch the KHCC’s first surgical oncology conference contributing to the discussions on treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer in the Middle East.

Princess Ghida with Professor Sarah O’Dwyer

Princess Ghida with Mr Omer Aziz

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PTS patient day Meanwhile, CPOC also held its third peritoneal tumour service (PTS) patient day in May 2019 where a total of 87 patients and relatives attended. The day was devised and facilitated by Rebecca Halstead, lead PTS clinical nurse specialist, with the help of a patient focus group and saw a number of the wider team attend throughout the day. The emphasis was to provide support and enable networking between patients, their families and the team. Presentations were given by both patients who had undergone treatment and members of patients’ families which were emotional but inspiring. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and highlighted the supportive nature of the day.

Rebecca Halstead (left) with representatives from Pseudomyxoma Survivor support group

L to R: JoWoolnough, Rebecca Halstead, Toby Ward, Alison Roe

Patients benefitting from new technology We have successfully trialled innovative smart pump technology through the development of strategic partnerships with and between ICU Medical and iQemo. These partnerships have enabled The Christie to be one of the first hospitals in Europe to implement integrated infusion pumps. The iQemo Pump Trial was delivered by a multidisciplinary team and went live within the gynaecology team in the Oak Road Treatment Centre in March 2019. Utilising this new system of working, nursing staff were able to monitor multiple infusions to multiple patients in real time at the nursing station; the system also recorded electronically the duration of every infusion, and the reason for any interruptions, allowing the team to make improvements in working practices and collect accurate, useful data. Rob Duncombe, Director of Pharmacy, said: “Integration of pumps and prescribing software is definitely the way forward. This trial has shown how through collaborative working we can deliver an innovative solution which we can hopefully further develop with real tangible savings both in nursing time and improvements in patient safety.”

Easy access to professional marketing and comms support The corporate communications, marketing and engagement team has introduced a handy new online system to access our help and services. The team is responsible for two key areas of work – maintaining and protecting the reputation of The Christie, and actively promoting The Christie and key activities across a range of stakeholders. We work with all divisions and services across the organisation and use a range of methods and channels to reach audiences. We look after everything from our website, social media, campaigns, promotional materials and media relations. If you would like to request support from corporate communications, marketing and engagement the first step is to fill in our online request form with as much detail as possible. This will help us assess your requirements so we can recommend the best way to help you achieve your objectives. The new form is accessible on HIVE via the team’s departmental page here: https://hive.xchristie.nhs.uk/ Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id=6037 All staff can now have easy access to our online bank of marketing images for use in presentations and other materials. To register, visit christie.mediafiler.net

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Watch our Review of the year 2018/19 Our Review of the year film 2018/19 is now available to view on our website, as well as our annual publication. Both feature inspiring patient stories and detail successes we’ve had in the financial year and are well worth a look. The film was hosted by former BBC presenter Gordon Burns, who donated his time. To see both, visit: www.christie.nhs.uk/ about-us/the-foundation-trust/ annual-reports-and-reviews/ annual-report-and-review-201819/

Christie International joins the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) The Christie has recently become a member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), joining over 1,100 organisations in more than 170 countries.

The Christie International team is managing this relationship and will reach out to staff in other departments with information about any relevant membership benefits.

The Christie at the first ESTRO course dedicated to non- melanoma skin cancer Staff from The Christie played a key role in the inaugural European Society for Radiotherapy (ESTRO) course dedicated to the multidisciplinary management of non-melanoma skin cancer. The Christie was represented by Dr Agata Rembielak, Judy Harker and Laura Foster who facilitated the course, which was met with great interest. 59 participants took part from 18 different countries. One of the highlights of the course was interactive case discussions, during which participants had the opportunity to present their own challenging cases and share examples of good practice from their places of work.

Case discussion sessions showed how clinical practices in the management of non-melanoma skin cancer differ not only within countries but also within centres within the same country, particularly in skin radiotherapy and brachytherapy.

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International delegations visiting The Christie The Christie welcomed Dr Marta Temido, Secretary of State for Health, her Head of Office and the Consul General for Portugal, on Portugal’s National Day in June. Research and innovation was also the theme for a visit in May of a Canadian delegation of leading companies and research

organisations using artificial intelligence and technology in healthcare. Delegates attended the Eureka Global Innovation Summit and then visited the Manchester Cancer

Dr Pedro Oliveira, Consultant in Histopathology, a Portuguese national himself, led the visit which included a tour of the new Outpatients department, proton beam therapy centre and a meeting with Prof Rob Bristow to hear more about research and innovation in Manchester.

Research Centre and met with Prof Chris Harrison, Executive Lead for international, along with colleagues from the research and digital teams for a round table discussion. Strengthening ties in Ireland

Forging international relationships: Christie staff with the Portuguese visitors

Cork University Hospital marked the official opening of its new radiation oncology department, the Glandore Centre in June with a visit from the Irish Deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste), Simon Coveney. A team of Christie experts including physics and radiotherapy have worked collaboratively with Cork University Hospital (CUH) for the last 18 months as it established its new facilities and services. Professor Nick Slevin, clinical lead for this project, spoke at the opening event on behalf of the project team and featured on national television, generating great publicity for The Christie in various Irish news outlets. This was one of the first major contracts secured by The Christie International, facilitating a unique collaboration where colleagues have mentored staff at CUH with respect to multi-professional team working, best practice guidelines, research opportunities and patient engagement. The centre is set to be fully operational early next year and support will continue through this next phase. The success of the partnership was also a central topic on the agenda of the Future Health Summit in Dublin earlier in May. Prof Nick Slevin presented alongside CUH chief executive Tony McNamara on the partnership which was endorsed by the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP). Such publicity has served to heighten interest in the expertise that The Christie can offer other Irish providers.

The Christie’s Prof Nick Slevin and Jenny Scott seen here with Tony McNamara, CEO CUH and other panellists at the conference

Deputy Prime Minister, Simon Coveney seen visiting the CUH surface guided radiotherapy facility

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SACT passport

In 2017, the UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS) initiated a SACT (Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy) Passport, designed to ensure that SACT knowledge and best practice to ensure that patients benefit from high quality care. The Passport has three steps to competency attainment: • To complete relevant theoretical sections • To complete relevant practical competency assessments • To complete an annual reaccreditation certificate In 2018, Ruth Clout (Haematology PEF) and Rhona Johnson (SACT PEF) invited UKONS to deliver a Train-The-Trainer session at The Christie. A working group was created including Yvonne Rushton and Lizzie McCulloch (Clinical Skills Training Team), who recognised that a standardised training programme would benefit staff, enhancing their training is consistent and up-to-date, standardising Using personal information held by the Trust in any way about any person (a patient, staff member or anyone else) is only the right thing to do when you are allowed to and need to for your job. This includes: • Talking about someone • Writing information about someone • Accessing information about someone

knowledge, confidence and competence, ultimately resulting in safe patient care and greater job satisfaction.

on the experience and knowledge gained. The team also recognise that staff should receive training in awareness of potential exposure from SACT. With support from Owen Seago from the Technology Enhanced Learning Team, an e-learning package has been developed and is soon to be launched. This has a mixed media approach, using video, animation, text and interactive elements to deliver an engaging and rewarding experience. This will ensure that all staff throughout the Trust are given the knowledge to work safely.

The Christie launched the UKONS SACT passport in November 2018. Initially, delivered over one day, following an evaluation the day was re-developed to be delivered over two days. The Passport is underpinned by face-to-face teaching, complemented by competency assessments in clinical practice. Support is given by Sharon O’Connor (Trainee ANP) and standardised assessors. To date 156 nurses have attended the study day. 59 nurses have fully completed step one of the passport and 82 nurses have completed practical sections in step two. Nurses have embraced the passport providing positive feedback

Information governance reminder

• Looking at someone’s information with somebody else • Sharing information about someone • Storing information about someone • Deleting information about someone Information governance (IG) is about keeping personal information safe and secure (and in line with the law). The Trust has policies

and procedures in place which provide guidance to you on how to do this, these can be found on Hive. You are also required to complete mandatory data security & information governance training on an annual basis as part of your essential training requirements. For more information, email information.governance@ christie.nhs.uk or call ext. 8460 or 2412 .

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Corporate news

MyChristie-MyHealth Since launching in January, MyChristie-MyHealth, the Trust’s new ePROMs (electronic Patient Reported Outcome Measures) service has been very successful. The Christie is the first cancer centre worldwide to introduce ePROMs in routine clinical practice. The service allows patients to complete online questionnaires about their symptoms, quality of life and experience, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes. This can be done remotely and in between clinic appointments. So far, MyChristie-MyHealth has been rolled out to lung and head and neck patients and in patients treated with proton beam therapy. Feedback from 100 patients has been overwhelmingly positive; patients found the service quick and easy to use (99%), they felt more involved in their care (97%) and improved their communication with their clinical team (82%). Future work involves Trust-wide roll out of ePROMs and their use to drive personalised follow-up and develop a real-time patient responsive service. Medical inpatient noting project May saw the go-live of an extensive inpatient noting project that supports ‘paper-light’ documentation of all long-stay medical patients, with all medical and nursing care being recorded and updated within the clinical web portal (CWP). As a whole, the project included the design and creation of a medical handover worklist and 27 new CWP forms. On top of this, changes were made to 15 pre-existing CWP forms. This project was a massive achievement delivered by the clinical data capture team in collaboration with software development, Jo Jackson, Ruth Conroy, Rhidian Bramley and Jac Livsey amongst many others. The project team is grateful for the support received from all areas, with particular thanks to the medical staff involved with form testing and to the digital services staff who offered support on the wards post go-live. The next phase of this project will see all of the surgical inpatient notes migrating to CWP. Work is ongoing to deliver this project and communication will be released as appropriate. Information and relevant training videos for this or future projects are available on the digital services HIVE page under clinical web portal, info & training videos.

Red flag cancer education gets green light fromHEE Developed and hosted at The Christie, GatewayC provides online cancer education for primary care. After a successful uptake in the north of England, the tool will now be available to every GP and primary care professional across NHS England for free, through funding from Health Educations England. The platform features RCGP accredited courses that focus on early diagnosis, suspected cancer referrals and living with and beyond cancer. Since its launch, GatewayC has shown promising initial signs of supporting earlier cancer diagnosis. Users have already reported taking action, with some patients being called for reassessment or being referred on a suspected cancer pathway as a result of the training. One GP from Wigan contacted the team after referring a patient as a direct result of completing the online learning. She said: Having recently completed GatewayC’s lymphoma course, I was made much more aware of the signs of lymphoma when a symptomatic patient presented to me in clinic. I was able to confidently arrange a suspected cancer referral for my patient as a result of this learning, who was subsequently diagnosed quickly. This will give my patient the best possible outcome going forward. Dr Hosie, GP, Wigan

The tool is available across the country to all primary care staff. Find out more at www.gatewayc.org.uk or by emailing gatewayc@ christie.nhs.uk

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Corporate news Staff news

Baby biomedical scientists

Biomedical scientists celebrated Biomedical

tour of the labs to see exactly what goes on. Tom had to delay his studies for treatment but will now be starting medicine at The University of Manchester in September. He said: “During my treatment I’ve undergone hundreds of blood tests, up to four times a week, at The Christie. Like every other patient, I had no idea how many people were involved and what goes on behind the scenes.

Science Day in June with an event to showcase their skills to patients and other staff. Thanks to funding from the Albert Norman Biomedical Science Day Activity Fund, visitors were shown a range of different skills including hand inspection kits, microscapes and urine analysis for checking diabetes. Biomedical scientist Tahmina Hussain said: “Lots of visitors were very interested and keen to learn about what we do and overall the event was a brilliant success! It’s lovely to meet the patient behind the samples we are processing.” Meanwhile leukaemia patient Tom Hunt, was given a behind the scenes

Baby biomedical scientists: the visits proved very popular

“The tour showed me the enormous scale of the operation and how many hundreds of people are involved with processing tests. I never realised how much doctors and clinicians rely on advice and test results before giving treatment.” In September Tom will be studying Medicine at The University of Manchester and we wish him well with his studies.

TomHunt is pictured second from right with The Christie team.

Exam success

Charity trustee Congratulations to Sarah Wells , a clinical nurse specialist, who has recently become a Trustee for

She said: “Lymphoma Action has been helping my patients and families for many years by providing expert advice and support. I’m looking forward to giving something

Congratulations to clinical coder Naseema Hosein-Hoey who has successfully passed her National Clinical Coding Exam (NCCQ) (UK) & therefore is now an accredited clinical coder. Her manager Diane Royle said: “The exam is quite an intensive exam, it takes a whole day to complete and involves a practical and theory paper and a lot of studying which is hard work when

Lymphoma Action, a charity which supports our lymphoma patients by providing written literature, a helpline, buddy system and local support groups. Sarah is the first Clinical nurse specialist to be on their board.

back and am excited about providing a specialist nurse’s perspective.”

Risky business Congratulations to Deanna Herron and Benita Cooke who won ‘Overall Best Poster’ at the R&D Forum Conference in Brighton. The NHS R&D Forum is a UK–wide community of practice and professional network for the health and care research management, support and leadership workforce. They delivered a presentation on ‘Great Sponsorship’ and also exhibited a poster on sponsor risk assessment entitled ‘Risky Business’.

undertaking employment too so we

wanted to say congratulations on behalf of her team colleagues.”

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Staff news

Remembering Marc Abraham Colleagues have been remembering nutrition specialist Marc Abraham who died suddenly in June aged 37.

pharmaceutical companies invited him to work with them as a reflection of the esteem with which he was held. Marc established his research niche in a very short space of time. Importantly, he realised the importance of disseminating his knowledge. He demonstrated that he was both a versatile and able teacher, teaching on multiple courses, supervising medical and dietetic students and contributing to specialist consultant training. He was an exceptional team player. Colleague and friend Professor Was Mansoor said: “Throughout his time at The Christie, Marc was simply a joy to work with and will be dearly missed. Apart from being dedicated to his work and research, he will be remembered for his big smile and never ending generosity with the time he gave to people as a friend. He gave patients hope where hope had faded and added quality to people who sorely needed it. He entertained us with his sharp wit and had that rare quality of being willing to laugh at himself to make others around him happy. “Of course, the loss of Marc leaves a big gap in all our lives. That gap cannot be precisely filled because it belongs to Marc Abraham who was unique. We wish him all the best in the next part of his journey.” Everyone at The Christie sends sincere condolences to Marc’s family and loved ones. Plans are underway to hold a service of remembrance to Marc here at The Christie at a future date. Details will be announced when they are available.

Marc began work at The Christie as a specialist oncology dietitian in December 2015. He trained in Nutrition Science at the University of Nottingham (undergraduate degree) and in dietetics at King’s College, London (master’s degree). It was clear from the beginning that he had far greater ambition

than being a ‘run of the mill’ dietitian (his words). He was passionately enthusiastic about making a difference for his patients by improving their quality of life and increasing their treatment options. He was also determined to influence improvements to his profession both nationally and internationally. He rapidly established an indispensable service for our patients, became one of the most popular members of a large team and was well known throughout the hospital. He developed a firm foundation of research linking nutrition issues to cancer survival. He successfully published his findings and was invited to speak at one of the most prestigious oncology meetings in 2018, the European Society of Medical Oncology, which he did with great clarity and flair. He has a number of manuscripts submitted which are undergoing peer review for publication currently which we will be seen through to completion on his behalf. There has been great interest in his research both in the UK and abroad. Multiple collaborators and Happy retirement Farewell to kitchen porter Paul Lamb who has retired after more than 20 years service.

Weekly exercise class Our physiotherapy team in the rehabilitation unit have launched a weekly exercise class for breast cancer patients who are receiving radiotherapy to the chest wall. Stiffness is a recognised side effect following radiotherapy which can limit a patient’s upper limb function. Performing specific stretching exercises can help combat this. The class also promotes general exercise to assist patients with their recovery.

to the wards and has always made time to speak to staff and suggest

Paul had previously worked for many years as a highly skilled French Polisher but had decided on a change of career. He quickly fitted into the catering team and has provided a dedicated service ever since. Paul has always engaged with colleagues across the Trust, particularly when delivering the milk or breakfast baskets

ways that we may be able to look at recycling or reducing waste in different areas. Paul, who is 71, now intends to enjoy his hobbies including art, tennis and travel.

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