Neuro-oncology Pathway Board

This page contains information from the Greater Manchester Cancer Brain and Central Nervous System Pathway Board, and the work it is undertaking.

If you are affected by brain and central nervous system cancer or you are worried about symptoms, please visit the links below.

Key People

Catherine McBain, clinical lead, brain and central nervous system pathway

Professor Catherine McBain

Professor McBain graduated from University of Manchester Medical School in 1994.

She then held house officer and senior house officer posts at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe Hospital, Whiston Hospital (St Helens) and Salford Royal, and gained her Membership of the Royal College of Physicians in February 1997.

Professor McBain joined The Christie in August 1997 as a Specialist Registrar and passed her final Fellowship of Royal College of Radiologists examinations in 2000. She then carried out two years full-time research in technical aspects of image-guided radiotherapy at the University of Manchester Academic Department of Radiation Oncology and was awarded her MD in 2005. Professor McBain was appointed as a consultant in May 2005 and has since led service development for primary brain and CNS tumours, working closely with neurosurgical teams at Salford Royal Foundation Trust and with commissioners to establishment site-specific multi-disciplinary teams and NICE-compliant referral and treatment pathways.

Professor McBain was instrumental in the establishment of the Stereotactic Radiosurgery service at The Christie at Salford which opened in 2011. She is committed to improving outcomes in brain tumours and is principal investigator for a portfolio of clinical trials in this field. She is also a member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Brain Tumour Group and the National Cancer Research Network (NCRN) Brain Clinical sub-group, as well as the American Society for Neuro-oncology.

Professor McBain is the Greater Manchester, South Lancashire and Cumbria representative on the National Specialised Commissioning Brain and CNS Clinical Reference Group. She continues to practise colo-rectal oncology, delivering chemotherapy and biological therapies via a weekly clinic at The Macmillan Cancer Resource Centre at Macclesfield Hospital and supervises rectal radiotherapy for patients from Macclesfield and Leighton hospitals.

Claire Goldrick, pathway manager at Greater Manchester Cancer AllianceClaire Goldrick

Claire has been working at GM Cancer for over three years as a pathway manager, facilitating five pathway boards to deliver system wide improvements to cancer pathways and patient care, including Breast, Head and Neck, Genomics, Neuro-oncology and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary. The boards offer an objective and collaborative approach to service improvement and bring together stakeholders from across Greater Manchester to create an engaged, multidisciplinary board which is representative of the whole patient pathway.

Prior to working at GM Cancer, Claire worked at Cancer Research UK as their Northwest Clinical Research Associate, covering a range of early phase clinical trials. Claire has also held roles at The Christie Clinical Trials Unit and Macmillan building a wealth of experience in clinical cancer research and service improvement.

Claire has also qualified as a coach and mentor with the Chartered Management Institute and supports colleagues within The Christie Leadership Framework and leadership of the GM Cancer administrative function.

Contact Claire

Brain / CNS pathway board document library

If you need any information from this page in a different format please contact us using gmcancer.admin@nhs.net.

The Suspected Cancer Referral Form for Brain and CNS can be found here. 

Personalised Care

Embedding patient-centred, holistic practice into cancer care

Graphic shows various people walking down a road depicting their cancer pathway. The various signs along the road read; Cancer Genomic Testing – new offer in development available within some cancer conditions Holistic Needs Assessment – Helps you identify the concerns that are most important so your healthcare team can refer you to other services if you need more help or support. Personalised Care Support Plan (PCSP) – captures and provides a written record of the HNA conversations, decisions and agreed outcomes to support your health and wellbeing. Treatment Summary Cancer Care Review – conversation between a patient and your GP or a Practice Nurse to provide support after a cancer diagnosis Health and Wellbeing Support Patient Stratified Follow up (PSFU) – Give patients control over their follow up care allowing them to be seen when needed such as when their symptoms or circumstances change, otherwise avoiding the inconvenience of appointments of low clinical value. Community Groups Online Support Supported Self Management

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