Caroline's Blog

So good they named it twice. Yes, I’ve just arrived in New York, all ready for my Sunday morning run.  The fact that this run will be the largest marathon in the world and watched by almost 2 million spectators doesn’t worry me !? But I’m so used to running on my own that it will be strange to run alongside 40,000 people. 

New York boasts one of the leading cancer centres – the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre. They may have a very different healthcare system in the US, but the last time I was in America on a fact-finding mission for our new radiotherapy centres I picked up so many innovative ideas.  We can all learn from each other and it’s also the smaller, simple ideas that have an important impact.

But enough of work.  If I can’t enjoy sipping a Manhattan in Manhattan before the race, then I will hopefully have time to pop into at least one of my favourite New York places. 

I keep dreaming about running. And I'm not sure if its because I'm running when I'm half asleep at 5am in the morning or because I'm having a recurring nightmare about never finishing the 26.2 miles.

With less than a week to go before the New York Marathon I feel both anxious and excited. I fly out on Wednesday with two of our research nurses, who I'm doing the race with, but with so much happening at The Christie it will certainly be a 'working' break. What did we do before blackberrys? I struggle to switch off even when I'm on annual leave, so despite the temptation of one of the world's livliest cities, my mind will probably be on Manchester more than Manhatten.

I'm tired out after an active weekend which included a 13 mile run in preparation for the New York marathon as its only a few weeks away. I've got to get some miles in my legs before the big day.

On Saturday we had a bucket collection outside Old Trafford. Its part of our three year charity partnership with the Manchester United Foundation, and Man United weren't the only winners as we collected around £10,000. This was £3,000 more than last year's bucket collection so a big thank you to all the football fans for their generous support.

To start the week, I have to go down to London today to speak at a national conference on service line management which has been successfully implemented at the Christie.
 
I was thinking of calling into the Financial services Authority, as we haven't received a decision from them yet about our claim for reimbursement of the money currently frozen in one of our bank accounts.

We had an internal review of the way in which our cash was managed that confirms that the proper procedures had been followed. However, as the accounting officer I have also asked for an external report on our cash management policy to give additional reassurance.

As I wrote last week, the current situation will not affect our new developments – the Christie radiotherapy centres in Oldham and Salford, patient treatment centre on our site and multi-storey car park. Our cash flows have been revised to ensure that these developments will definitely go ahead.

Our governors are writing to all members and we are contacting our fundraisers to reassure them that our services and research will continue as normal and their support is needed now as much as ever. 

I have been contacted with lots of messages of support, and I want to thank you all for your help with this.

“We have had fantastic news from the Healthcare Commission.  We have been rated as double excellent in their annual health check.  I am delighted because I know what hard work and effort all our staff have been putting in to deliver these highest possible ratings for our patients.

In the meantime, I am trying to be patient whilst we wait for the Financial Services Authority and HM Treasury to review our claim for the investments that we have had frozen.

I have another big hurdle to climb in two weeks.  I am off out now to carry on training for the New York marathon”.

Four days is a long time when you're caught up in a global financial crisis.

Its been a worrying and exhausting time since we found out on Friday that our £7.5 million in the Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander bank, a UK incorporated bank in Iceland, was frozen.  Nearly all of this is our charity money.

I've gone from meetings to media interviews and back to more meetings, with hundreds of phone calls in between, as we've worked round the clock to get our money back.

I'm sure my husband and children have forgotten what I look like, and this lunchtime is the first chance I've had to update my blog.

I've done so to reiterate the key messages that we are keen to stress to our patients, supporters, members and the wider public. And those key messages are that our current services will continue as normal and our money was managed using best practice guidance. We need to focus on our patients and carers and our new Oldham and Salford radiotherapy centres and patient treatment centre developments will continue as planned.

We're aware that some of our fundraisers are troubled by the fact that charity money was sitting in a bank account overseas. But it’s vital that we build up savings to help fund big developments that will bring huge benefits for our patients. This is so important.

I am relieved that we moved all our cash from stocks and shared earlier in the year otherwise the situation would be worse.

At the time - and hindsight is a wonderful thing - this investment was the right thing to do. And we were not alone.

These are troubled and strange times for the world. And difficult times for us. We've been inundated with messages of support and are so grateful for this. Thank you to everyone for your very personal and caring messages.

Please remember that you can ring our information line if you have any concerns or need more information on 0161 446 8503.

Me and all my team are going to try and get some sleep tonight !

I thought it was important to update on some important news.

The current financial situation is affecting so many individuals and organisations across the globe and we have unfortunately been caught up in it.

We have a deposit of £7.5 million with the Icelandic bank - Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander - and have been working around the clock to secure this money.

Its obviously been worrying and stressful, but the Financial Services Authority who we have been working closely with, have been really helpful.

This money is for some of our future developments, which importantly means that none of our current patient services will be affected. But its vital we get this money. Vital for patients, staff and all our generous supporters.

All of you can rest assured that we are doing everything possible to make this happen.

Thank you for your support. I will keep you updated.

New name. New marketing plan. New radiotherapy centre at Salford. New approach to private patients.

And that's just in the last two weeks.

We're striding forward in our bold new era. Or hobbling in my case, having injured my knee training for the New York Marathon. I'm blaming it on the damp weather rather than overdoing it.

But back to business, I am genuinely excited about embracing a more commercial approach to marketing our services and exploiting huge opportunities to develop our private patients portfolio. The additional income from this will help us invest further in our NHS developments, bringing real benefits to all our patients.

Having spent my entire career in the NHS, no-one could be more passionate about the ethos of this wonderful public institution or more passionate about providing the very best health care to the public. Our private patient developments will strengthen, not dilute or divert, our efforts for our NHS patients - and that's what I'm excited about.

This initiative is one piece of an important jigsaw. A 'Christie' branded jigsaw. We are proud that our name is synonymous with excellent cancer care and treatment and need to market our name and services as best we can.

A brave new Christie in a brave new world - but a Christie with the same proud values and objectives. All aimed at providing the highest quality care and treatment for our patients.

I'm just going to have to also be brave about my sore knee, and keep up those early morning runs as the big challenge in the big apple beckons.