Supporting The Christie Hospital in Tameside

We are supporting work to take cancer services closer to patients with a £10,000 donation from a special social value fund.

Staff who live and work in Greater Manchester nominated a local service provided by The Christie NHS Foundation Trust for the donation.

The Christie’s Bloods Closer to Home programme allows people living in Tameside to avoid travelling outside the borough for blood testing services with an outreach clinic running within the Macmillan Unit at Tameside Hospital.

The money was handed over to The Christie Charitable Fund on Friday (31 March) after our staff visited the Tameside clinic to see for themselves how the support will benefit local cancer patients.

Caption: Pictured (left to right) meeting the Christie Bear (Myles Cotton) at last week's presentation are National Highways staff Emma White, Andrew Dawson, Stewart Jones and Charlotte Blewitt.

Stewart Jones, National Highways’ regional improvements director, said: “Everyone in the North West, including our own staff, cherishes the work The Christie does in providing cancer services to people in the region and beyond. The Bloods Closer to Home initiative makes life a little bit easier for people with cancer who need regular blood tests.

“The Christie serves 3.2 million people across Greater Manchester and Cheshire so every journey made to a local clinic means less congestion on the motorway and major A roads network - so we are delighted to support the initiative.”

Anna McIntosh, Major Relationships Development Manager for The Christie Charitable Fund, said: “National Highways has been working in partnership with us over the last year and have supported us in bringing our Bloods Closer to Home Service to Tameside. The average journey to the hospital is 48 minutes, so offering blood tests closer to where patients live helps reduce travel times and costs to patients.

"Thanks to organisations like National Highways we can make our services more accessible. We are so grateful to the team at National Highways for this support."