The Christie Foundation Trust Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Annual Report & Accounts 2021-22

Clinical Support Services

Clinical Support Services play an important role across the entire Trust, working closely with other professionals and in many areas. The highly skilled teams are often leading in areas of innovation and research to ensure our patients’ and families physical and emotional needs are met. Services offered are both clinical and non-clinical in nature and integrate with oncology treatment systems to enable improved outcomes for all. Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic The Support Services teams have continued to demonstrate their resilience and transferable skills over the past 12 months by adapting services and creating new ways of working to support both patients and staff alike. The team have also supported the Trust’s Staff Screening Service and implemented the COVID 19 Information line to support patients and their carers with queries relating to COVID-19. Several of the services also contribute to the Trust’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Support for Staff. Our Services and their achievements Nutrition and dietetics The dietetic service has continued to deliver the service during the pandemic, continuing with telephone clinics for outpatients and the PanDA research trial for HPB patients. During this year, the team have reviewed and updated the Trust nutrition policy and developed standard operating procedures for the care of enteral feeding tubes. The service is currently looking at carrying out a pilot on ambulatory enteral feeding service to improve outcomes for head and neck patients. Physiotherapy/Occupational therapy (OT) During the pandemic, our Physio and OT teams risk assessed their patient cohort transferring appropriate patients to virtual appointments and re-focused their teams to work in staggered shift patterns alongside the Medical and Nursing staff on our inpatient wards.

The team continued to provide vital support to patients requiring respiratory and Malignant Spinal Cord Compression (MSCC) specialised care on the Oncology Critical Care Unit. Speech and language therapy The Speech and Language Therapy team has continued to adapt the service to meet the challenges of supporting patients during the pandemic, providing both face to face and remote consultations. As a team they presented at a Cancer Rehabilitation study day and a Head and Neck study day. They also had a publication in an international journal, submitted two abstracts to a national oncology conference, and jointly produced a paper with dietitians about the AHP role in Proton Beam Therapy. Pathology Pathology services at The Christie are provided by The Christie Pathology Partnership (CPP); a joint venture between SYNLAB and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Christie Pathology Partnership supported onsite rapid COVID-19 swab testing for all patient admissions at The Christie to enable CPP has also supported the Trust with the Greater Manchester Surgery Hub to ensure cancer patients treatment continued during the pandemic. The service is working with other external partnerships in the review of GM Pathology and Cytogenetics, and the digitalisation of Pathology. CPP also provides the Bereavement and Mortuary Services. Transport and interpreters The transport and interpreter services are integral to the operational services across the Trust. They have worked closely with local taxi services and private firms to minimise waits. safe and effective patient flow and bed management, supporting vital clinical management decisions.

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