Staff from The Christie charity have been stepping in to support cancer patients as part of the hospital’s ongoing work to support patients during the coronavirus outbreak.

In addition to continuing to seek donations, where possible, for the work of The Christie hospital, staff at the charity wanted to help cancer patients directly and have been allocated to a variety of different roles across the hospital.

Charity staff have been providing a range of support for their hospital colleagues including providing transport for patients at risk to get them to their essential appointments, delivering essential pharmacy medicines to patients at home, providing portering support, directing patients around the hospital and screening patients coming into the hospital each day by checking their temperature.

This ensures that patients who may have the COVID-19 virus are identified quickly, offered appropriate support and do not put other patients or clinical staff at risk of catching the virus.

Hazel Rushton (49) from Poynton, is one of the charity staff helping to deliver essential medicines from The Christie pharmacy to patients in their own homes, to save them from having to make unnecessary journeys and putting themselves at risk.

Hazel said: “I’m more than happy to support the Trust with anything which helps during this pandemic. It’s a privilege to be able to help cancer patients undergoing treatment during this challenging time.”

The Christie charity supports the work of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust providing enhanced services over and above what the NHS funds. This includes money for care and treatment, research, education and extra patient services. Gifts from the public make a huge difference to the care and treatment that The Christie is able to provide to patients and their families.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust was the first specialist trust to be rated as ‘Outstanding’ twice (in 2016 and 2018) by the health regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC). It referred to The Christie as ‘a leader in cancer care’ and ‘a pioneer in developing innovative solutions to cancer care.’ The CQC praised the Trust’s staff which it said ‘go the extra mile to meet the needs of patients and their families’ and that they were ‘exceptionally kind and caring.’ In 2017, the CQC rated The Christie as the best specialist trust in the country, and one of the top three trusts overall in England.

Local people can continue to support the work of The Christie charity during the COVID-19 pandemic by visiting www.christies.org/donate