Caroline's Blog

The UK was united in calling everyone to give up smoking last week for national No Smoking Day.  Social media was busy with smoking facts and retweets encouraging people to think more about the damage smoking has on their health.

The Christie is a non smoking site and houses some incredible smoking cessation experts, all on hand to help patients and their families quit.   Peter Mackereth and his team from the rehabilitation unit amaze me with their expertise and guidance they give to both staff and patients.

As part of our efforts to help encourage people to give up, earlier this month we created a new partnership with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and Stop Smoking Manchester, to encourage people to have smoke free lives and homes.   Last week, we officially launched the partnership with a successful event at Withington fire station, in which members of the public were treated to massages, free cups of tea and some professional advice.  There will be more events like this in the coming year, so keep an eye on our website for more details. 

If you would like to give up smoking or have a friend or loved one that needs some help in doing so, there is plenty of support out there for you, both at The Christie - and beyond in Greater Manchester and the UK.

Please help us help others to stop smoking.

Support:

There is an evident, proven connection between some cancers and smoking, and another frightening connection with house fires. The below facts show just how damaging this habit can be:

•   A cigarette contains more than 4000 chemicals
•  If you give up smoking for 10 years, your risk of a heart attack falls to about the same as non smoker
• In the UK, smoking kills five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicide and HIV all put together
• Crews from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were called out to 731 fires in 2010 and 2011 that started as a result of smoking

The smoking cessation team here at The Christie provides advice, nicotine replacement support and complementary therapies, such as hypnotherapy and acupuncture to help people achieve their goal of being smoke free.

Our smoking cessation service is available to patients and their families.  For further information contact: Peter Mackereth or Paula Maycock 0161 446 8236 or 918 7175.

For further support to quit smoking contact Manchester Stop Smoking Service on 0161 205 5998 or visit www.stopsmokingmanchester.co.uk

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With my blogs, I like to highlight issues that have got me thinking over the week, but this one is simply to say well done for something that often gets unintentionally overlooked.

Last month, we received some results from a survey published by Care Quality Commission (CQC), which focused on our outpatient department.  The questions covered aspects of care and treatment, all of which we were delighted to receive good results for.

They speak volumes about the consistency of our staff's attitude and diligence, but one which stood out for me was the 9.43 we scored out of 10 for the Trust's clean environment and facilities.

With such a large site and with so many visitors everyday, the overall impression we give to those individuals is hugely important and I cannot praise our domestic staff enough.  More importantly, people are often here facing a tough time, which makes it even more vital to create somewhere pleasant for them to be.

We showed David Flory, deputy NHS chief executive around a few weeks ago and he commented on how impressed he was with what he described as one of the 'cleanest' trusts he has seen.  Feedback like this is something shared and celebrated across the Trust and as well as our superb clinical staff and various other teams, it's also the people who work behind the scenes that contribute to what we are.

I think a good environment is achieved through team effort, from everyone and anyone.  I'm a little bit of an annoyance with our environment and like to wander around the Trust with a bin bag removing old posters and checking everything is spick and span.  Our environment is something to work hard on and be proud of.  Everything from the art room to our relaxation rooms is well maintained as best we can.

Well done to all those who contribute to reaching and maintaining this standard.  It makes a huge difference to our patients.

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Manchester is already firmly on the map in terms of cancer research and yesterday this became even more evident with a £12.5 million funding boost from the Government for clinical research. 

This was allocated to our talented team at The Christie and two other trusts, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.

The fantastic news of our £4.5 million funding spread across the Trust yesterday, with much excitement and pride.   I was with our Chairman, Lord Keith Bradley yesterday, when we heard the news and he was extremely impressed not only with everyone's expertise in the Trust and this result itself, but also with the key organizations involved across the city.  The 'collaborative approach' is what he feels has made a real difference in getting us to this stage.

This funding will make a huge difference and is essential for our research to continue over the next few years.  This will undoubtedly have an immense positive impact on our patients.

We'll keep everyone up to date with developments over the coming months and years.    But for now, I'd just like to say congratulations to Andrew Wardley, our director of the cancer trials unit, and his team for all their expertise in completing this funding bid.

The Christie Phase I/II Cancer Trials Unit, opened in late 2010, conducts early phase research and is home to many firsts into human studies.  As well as these early phase trials, the unit conducts later phase research across a range of different cancers.

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