Doctors, nurses, healthcare workers and researchers have been honoured by the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance at the first-ever Greater Manchester Cancer Awards. This December we look back at some of the worthy winners from October.
The Greater Manchester Cancer Awards pay tribute to some of the important work being done in Greater Manchester to improve lives and treatments for people affected by cancer. They recognise the collaborative approach teams take in Greater Manchester to work across organisational boundaries to make things better for patients.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “It’s great to see some of the progress being made right here in our city-region. If you look around Greater Manchester, there are some amazing people doing amazing things to support people with cancer, but also to treat people with cancer. That’s why it’s important that we celebrate everything that is being done with the Greater Manchester Cancer Awards, organised by the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance.”
Teams from the NHS, research, voluntary, community and social enterprise and local authority sectors all submitted entries. A panel of judges – including patient representatives and staff working in cancer from across the city – then whittled down around 60 entries to a final shortlist. The awards were presented in a ceremony hosted by Steve Bland, from the BBC podcast You, Me and the Big C, and attended by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, at the Hilton in Deansgate.
Head judge Miss Susannah Penney, Associate Medical Director at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “We were thrilled at the response to our first-ever Greater Manchester Cancer Awards. The standard was very high and it was so tough for our judges to choose the winners.”
Dr Julie Wray, a patient and member of Grater Manchester Cancer Alliance’s User Involvement Network, helped to judge the awards and was there to hand out some of the trophies during the ceremony at the Hilton, Deansgate on Tuesday 18 October.
She said: “I found reading the entries heart-warming and comforting in that so many healthcare staff are deeply passionate to improving cancer care in Greater Manchester. As a patient you are not always aware of what’s going on behind the scenes to improve and advance cancer care, these entries revealed that patients and their family carers are at the heart of GM cancer care services.”
Commitment to Equality Award
Encouraging Inclusivity in Technology Clinical Trials Project by the digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team and VOCAL
Not all patients can access technology in healthcare for a variety of reasons. This is sometimes known as the digital divide. It is important to address these barriers from the initial assessment of technology in a healthcare setting (technology clinical trial). The aim of this project, led by Dr Donna Graham, was to develop inclusivity guidance to help make sure all future technology clinical trials are as inclusive as possible for all patients.
The digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team (dECMT), based within the Cancer Biomarker Centre at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, part of The University of Manchester, and closely aligned with the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre based at The Christie NHS Foundation Hospital, worked with Vocal, a not-for-profit organisation which creates opportunities for people to learn about and have a voice in health research in Greater Manchester to co-design this project.
Patients, patient representatives, as well as academic researchers in digital health inequities and the Chair of The Christie’s Ethnic Diversity Group attended three half-day online workshops. They worked together to help form new inclusivity principles to guide all current and future work. They also developed an interactive checklist for researchers to use when developing their research in future to make sure it is as inclusive as possible.
Leanna Goodwin, Research Practitioner with dECMT, said: “It’s great to see the team’s hard work recognised at the Greater Manchester Cancer Awards. This work will make our technology clinical trials more accessible to all patients, especially those who are part of underserved groups.”
Head judge Miss Susannah Penney, Associate Medical Director at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “This project showed careful co-production and collaboration. The work included clear outputs on how to help address the digital divide. There is now a plan to share widely and internationally!”
Innovation Award
MyChristie-MyHealth – The Christies ePROMs project, by The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
The Christie Electronic Patient Reported Outcome Measures (ePROMs) team is at the forefront of providing patient centred care.
Since 2020, the team has implemented ePROMs – a symptom and quality of life questionnaire called ‘MyChristie-Myhealth’ – in 10 disease groups, with over 19,000 ePROMs collected from over 6,659 patients to date.
The service aims to revolutionise patient care at The Christie through personalised consultations and care models, early detection of symptoms and toxicity, and timely interventions.
Professor Janelle Yorke, Chief Nurse and Professor of Cancer Nursing, said: “This new programme means we can get patients to send in their symptoms and information about their quality of life electronically from their home, and it automatically goes into their electronic record. By implementing ePROMs we can get the right care to the right patient at the right time. “There is strong evidence from research studies demonstrating the benefits of this approach.”
Head judge Miss Susannah Penney, Associate Medical Director at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “This project – where digital meets clinical – provided clear evidence of using innovative ways of working to benefit both patients and clinicians in Greater Manchester.”
The ePROMs project is funded by The Christie Charity.
Outstanding Care Award
Teaching patients and carers to inject chemotherapeutic drugs in the comfort of their own home
Bone marrow cancer patients from Oldham, Bury, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale used to have to attend hospital at least 32 times over a 6 to 8 month period to be treated with chemotherapy.
The team at The Royal Oldham Hospital (part of Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust) realised their chemotherapy drug, Bortezomib, could be safely self-administered or administered by a carer at home reducing the need for patients to come to hospital. This was especially important during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Staff from the Adult Clinical Haematology Department taught patients how to safely inject chemotherapy in the comfort of their own homes. This had a positive impact on patient’s quality of life in avoiding unnecessary hospital commutes and exposure during the pandemic. It also created additional capacity on the day unit and reduced cost.
98% of patients who took part said the service exceeded their expectations and 2% said it was excellent. The service is now being extended to other Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs). ICPs are collaborative networks of service providers, which include healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and hospital specialists; the voluntary and community sectors; local council representatives; and service users and carers.
Dr Satarupa Choudhuri, from Northern Care Alliance, said: “We’re delighted to win this award and see this service recognised. Patients told us what a positive difference this made to their treatment which allowed them to avoid travelling to the hospital and being exposed to infections.”
Head judge Miss Susannah Penney, Associate Medical Director at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “The judges felt this project demonstrated the ability to work creatively with existing resources. It also showed clear evidence of improving patients’ experiences by reducing the number of visits and time they spent at hospital. It has huge potential to be rolled out more widely.”
Educational Impact Award
Making Smoking History in Greater Manchester – Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership
Tobacco is the number one cause of preventable illness and premature deaths, killing around 80,000 people each year in England alone. Smoking damages every organ in the body and causes at least 15 different types of cancer, including 70% of all lung cancer cases. However, smoking is not a ‘lifestyle choice’. It’s a lifelong chronic addiction which often starts in childhood. Once somebody starts smoking, it’s very hard for them to stop.
Through Greater Manchester’s ‘Making Smoking History’ strategy there has been a significant drop in smoking rates, from 18.4% in 2017 to 16% in 2019. There’s also been a shift in societal and cultural attitudes towards smoking. This is a result of several comprehensive and evidence-based programmes that have educated people about the harms of smoking, supported healthcare professionals to understand and treat tobacco dependency, created more smokefree environments, and driven thousands of people to stop smoking services.
Liz Benbow, Strategic Lead for Greater Manchester’s Making Smoking History programme, said: “It’s great to get this award which pays tribute to the amazing work that is happening across Greater Manchester to help more people stop smoking and live longer, healthier lives.”
Head judge Miss Susannah Penney, Associate Medical Director at Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said: “Our panel liked this entry because of its very clear description of the issues smoking and tobacco causes in Greater Manchester. There was a great consideration of communities and populations affected by health inequalities. We also liked hearing about how the team worked with the community and seeing how these inequalities have been addressed in working with pregnant women, people living in social housing, and LGBT+ communities.”
