The Christie charity Impact Report 2021-22

Treating the whole patient Our complementary health and wellbeing can be an integral part of a patient’s cancer journey. Whether its providing acupuncture, massage, hypnotherapy or coping techniques, our teams are here to support our patients through the most difficult times. That could be when they are struggling to cope with the stress, anxiety or trauma of a cancer diagnosis or treatment. It could be because they are struggling with treatment side affects such as sickness.

We are also funding the Academy of Surgical Oncology for the next three years. Clinical trials help provide greater treatment options for cancer patients. These new treatment options then help to improve patient outcomes. With an Academy of Surgical Oncology at The Christie, we will also be able to carry out surgical trials. This is something that very few cancer centres in the UK do at the moment, but will enable us to carry out a ground-breaking combination of surgical and clinical treatment together, leading the way in this unique type of surgical clinical trial on a national and global scale with huge potential. As well as surgical trials, the Academy of Surgical Oncology will also mean we can deliver pioneering research into cancer cells. Over the next five years, we’ll explore what the cells respond to and identify more targeted treatments. Studies like this need scientists and clinicians to work side by side in a truly collaborative way. Our Academy of Surgical Oncology will allow our brilliant experts to do this, creating a space for multi-disciplinary research. The new research facility on The Christie’s site will house research laboratories, consultant workspaces and a biological research unit to give our team the right environment to continue to make their life-changing discoveries. Our patients will directly benefit from having leading scientists and health care professionals collaborating and delivering fresh insights into cancer treatments.

Thanks to the support of our charity, we have been delighted to expand our complementary health and wellbeing service to our new Macclesfield centre – meaning we can now help patients to benefit from this service at all our Christie centres – Withington, Oldham, Salford and Macclesfield. This service is also opened to patients’ carers and Christie staff.

Complementary therapy is funded through our patient experience fund which also includes the psycho-oncology service, clinical nurse specialists and nurse clinicians, paediatric play specialist services and specialist physiotherapy and occupational therapy service.

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