Radiotherapy machines and scanner delivered to The Christie at Macclesfield

A major milestone has been reached in The Christie’s ambitious plans to bring essential cancer services together in one purpose built new centre in Macclesfield providing care closer to home for thousands of patients.

Two radiotherapy machines weighing 6.5 tonnes each and a CT scanner weighing 3 tonnes have been delivered to The Christie at Macclesfield and installation has begun.

Radiotherapy is a specialised procedure using high energy radiation beams to destroy cancerous cells. The beams are targeted at the cancer cells and delivered by the machines which are known as linear accelerators.

Cancer patients may have to receive radiotherapy on a daily basis for up to six weeks. Many patients from Macclesfield and beyond currently travel to The Christie Manchester. This can mean hours spent travelling each day at a time when patients and their families are already very distressed.

The two linear accelerators cost around £2m each and will be housed in two treatment rooms at The Christie at Macclesfield. These rooms have been specially designed with concrete walls up to two metres thick.

A CT scanner costing £500,000 was also delivered during September. This will be used for scans to help develop a patient’s radiotherapy treatment plan and decide the best way to treat their cancer.

The £26 million development at The Christie at Macclesfield is the third in a network of local Christie radiotherapy centres where patients can access first class radiotherapy treatments from Christie experts, but much closer to home. The other centres are in Oldham and Salford.

In addition to providing 12,500 radiotherapy appointments a year, The Christie at Macclesfield will transform cancer care, delivering local specialist access to chemotherapy, holistic support and information services, outpatient care, palliative care, counselling and complementary therapy and a wider range of clinical trials than at present.

Opening in December 2021, it will provide 46,000 patient appointments and visits each year and provide care closer to home for more than 1,500 patients a year.

The lead radiographer for The Christie at Macclesfield, James McGovern said: “I am delighted with the progress at our new cancer centre in Macclesfield. The delivery of the two linear accelerators and the CT scanner is a very significant and exciting moment for the project.

“The radiotherapy linacs were delivered in 42 sections per machine and are now being assembled and installed on site which will take around four weeks. The overall project is going exceptionally well. We are on time and on budget and already achieving the high standards of quality and efficiency that are a hallmark of the three existing Christie radiotherapy services.”

The Christie at Macclesfield will treat patients from Cheshire, The High Peak area of Derbyshire and parts of North Staffordshire for the most common cancers like breast, bowel, and lung. Patients with rare and complex cancers will continue to be treated at The Christie in Withington.

The Christie charity needs to raise £23m towards the £26m cost of the new centre. To support The Christie at Macclesfield go to:

www.christies.org/macclesfield

or call our team on 0161 446 3988.

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.

Pictured - Radiotherapy machines being delivered to The Christie at Macclesfield.