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, around 16 staff at the charity have been helping 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 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.
Charity staff member Claire Ferguson, a senior community fundraising manager from Withington is one of the charity employees who have been helping over the last couple of months. Claire, 37, has been delivering 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.
Claire said: “As charity staff we are more than happy to support the Trust with anything which helps during this challenging time.
“It’s a privilege to be able to support our clinical colleagues in this way so that they can continue providing the vital services for cancer patients undergoing treatment during this challenging time.”
Steph Bryant, 28, a corporate fundraising coordinator from Didsbury has also been supporting patients with pharmacy deliveries in addition to doing patient screening and portering duties in the hospital. She said: “The screening service is a brand new team set-up due to the coronavirus pandemic to help ensure the safety of patients and staff when entering the hospital. I’m so proud to be helping out 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.
Local people can continue to support the work of The Christie charity during the COVID-19 pandemic by visiting www.christies.org/donate
