We are The Christie magazine March 2025 Staff edition

Under the microscope

The Christie Institute for Cancer Education Manchester

Life-enhancing education awaits at The Christie Institute for Cancer Education Manchester, formerly known as The School of Oncology. In line with our ambitious five year strategy we have rebranded and to tell you more about what that means for you, we caught up with Jennifer Devine, Manager of Professional and Workforce Education.

Welcome Jennifer, please tell us a little more about the rebrand: We released our five-year strategy in late 2024 and in line with that we have taken a closer look at our product portfolio. We have considered what our learners need and how they learn - and this new brand aligns to our vision and values, in an inclusive and thoughtful way. This is not just a new name or a new logo, it is a complete refocus for us on how we can reach and support our learners, wherever they are in their career development journey. Our central theme of ‘life-enhancing education’ supports two key drivers for our team – addressing the individual tailored requirements of our learners and of course, our patients’ needs. Putting patient care at the very centre of everything we do is the most important thing for us all, and we really believe that we can achieve the best in patient care by providing the best in cancer care education. Great, so, what does this rebrand mean in real terms for Trust colleagues? Trust colleagues can expect even more innovative education programmes. You can expect that every piece of education available to you will have your career pathway, and your patients' needs at the centre of it. We are focussed on delivering accessible and inclusive education - we understand that study leave, funding and even researching the right level of education can be complex, and we are committed to making all of our educational offers widely publicised, accessible and flexible to suit your needs. As always, our team are available to support and guide you every step of the way. The Christie Institute for Cancer Education supports the career development of all staff within the Trust – what is available? We have conducted some really extensive research and feel fortunate to be able to develop new and innovative ways to meet the education needs of all of our staff. Whatever your current role and future ambition, we can support a career conversation to help identify a pathway forward and the courses,

programmes or apprenticeships that could suit you. We are able to showcase numerous individualised options, whether that is clinical, non-clinical, leadership or profession-specific. We have varied funding routes to access our training programmes. The Education events team also offer a full events service which you can work alongside for any training/events you wish to deliver yourself. You can book the use of the auditorium or a smaller events space and the team will work with you to plan, promote and deliver your event on site. Our digital learning team offers expertise to coproduce specific pieces of digital education or digital products. Recent work includes the development of a website for ALK+ lung cancer patients, as well as on-going digital marketing productions such as podcasts, video and online learning pieces. We have an award-winning Library team, which many people don't realise are part of the Institute for Cancer Education - they are here to help with any research you may be working on – supporting Trust staff engaged in BAs, MAs and PhDs. There are also rooms to hire, as well as and laptops. There is a huge range of books and resources you can borrow too – not just medical textbooks – if they don't have it, they will help you find it! That sounds like there is a lot going on! How can Christie staff benefit from this education? The process of identifying and applying for Education is a joint working process between the individual learner, their line manager and the professional education team. Consideration is given to PDR/ Appraisal goals, the findings from the Learning Needs Analysis (LNA) and the outcomes from career conversations. Once the education offer has been identified, a study funding application form needs to be completed by the learner in line with the study funding policy (all available on HIVE ). Following review, the learner and manager will be advised of any funding contributions, after which learner agreements and paperwork are completed.

"There are a range of ways to fund education and access opportunities, so my biggest piece of advice

is to ask…" Jennifer Devine

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