Westfield Health are helping businesses to kick-start their employee wellbeing strategy for the new financial year with their free webinars and HR resources.

You’re invited to join two upcoming webinars, aimed at HR professionals, business owners, leaders and managers:

‘How employers can support working parents and those with caring responsibilities’ 27 April, 11:00

‘Normalising mental health support in organisations’ 18 May, 09:30

You’ll hear from a panel of industry experts, including:

• Elizabeth Willets, Founder and CEO, Investing In Women
• Cathy Lawson, Independent Workplace Health and Wellbeing Consultant, MHFA Instructor and Coach
• Vicky Walker, Group Director of HR, Westfield Health
• Richard Holmes, Director of Wellbeing, Westfield Health

Don’t worry if you can’t attend the live webinars – recordings will be sent to all registrants afterwards. As it’s Stress Awareness Month, they are also sharing some factsheets to help businesses support their people.

As always, your Westfield Health and Wellbeing Consultant is available to help, and please feel free to get in touch with Bradley Smith bsmith@WestfieldHealth.com

Cheshire East Council has received the green light to carry out major improvements to an urban cycle and walking route in the borough, creating a more user-friendly and safer journey.

Sustrans, the UK walking and cycling charity, has confirmed to the council that funding is now in place for the project, in Macclesfield. It involves significant improvements to the Middlewood Way cycle and walking route in the Black Lane and Hurdsfield Road area of the town, part of the National Cycle Network route 55.

These will include widening of footways for cyclists and pedestrians on Black Lane, carriageway realignment on Hurdsfield Road, improvements to crossings in both roads, refreshed road markings, draining works and better signage.

The existing crossing for pedestrians and cyclists at the exit from the Tesco store and filling station will be upgraded, as will the existing toucan crossing on Hurdsfield Road at its junction with Black Lane.The scheme will increase accessibility and enhance northern and southern connections with the Middlewood Way. It also takes in the existing route parallel to old Hurdsfield Road to the south.

The bulk of the funding to deliver this £700,000 project is coming from the Department for Transport via Sustrans with Cheshire East Council also making a £50,000 contribution. This project is part funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The improvement works are due to start on 27 March and will continue until June.

Councillor Craig Browne,  chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, said: “This scheme will deliver big improvements to a key walking and cycling route to and from Macclesfield town centre and its railway station.

“We carried out a public consultation at the beginning of 2021 and our highways service has delivered various options which are intended to address many of the comments we received.

“This is a heavy traffic area of the town and the safety of all road and footway users are our priority. All necessary measures will be taken to ensure safety while the works go ahead. The scheme is a complicated one to deliver and we hope that Sustrans and Active Travel England will see this as a further demonstration of our commitment to active travel in the borough, helping us to secure further funding in future.”

15 March 2023

The Christie’s £26m cancer centre in Macclesfield marked its first anniversary in February, 2023.

Funded through £23m from The Christie charity, The Christie at Macclesfield has transformed cancer care for NHS patients, not just in East Cheshire but in the rest of the county, North Staffordshire and the High Peak area of Derbyshire, with the most common cancers like breast, bowel, lung and prostate.

In its first 12 months, The Christie at Macclesfield has provided a total of over 32,000 appointments, including 12,820 radiotherapy appointment for 1,211 radiotherapy patients, 6,517 chemotherapy and haematology treatment sessions and over 12,000 outpatient appointments.

The first chemotherapy patient to use the new centre was Sue Thompson, 59, from Holmes Chapel. Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2021. The first radiotherapy patient to have treatment was Thomas Walker, 67, also from Holmes Chapel.

One of the many patients to benefit from The Christie at Macclesfield over the past year is Philip Harris, 69, from Nantwich. The retired Managing Director was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2021 and started radiotherapy treatment at The Christie at Macclesfield in December 2022.

Before being diagnosed with cancer, Philip felt something was wrong as he had pain in his tummy. A blood test identified a raised level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in his body, and a follow-up test in June 2022 showed the level of PSA was slightly more elevated, at which point a scan was done, followed by a biopsy.

Philip said: “Sometimes you get a feeling something is wrong with your body. I’m an engineer, so I like to get to the bottom of a problem, whether it be with a piece of equipment or my own body. Sadly, too many men are bad at listening to their bodies, and they bury their heads in the sand, pretending there is nothing wrong. By the time they ask the doctor for help, it can often be too late.”

Philip started on a hormone therapy injection given once a month at his GP practice. As the cancer was growing relatively slowly, he later researched all treatment options and agreed to have radiotherapy rather than surgery, primarily because it has fewer side effects.

The radiotherapy treatment started at The Christie at Macclesfield in December 2022. Philip had 20 daily radiotherapy sessions over a 4-week period, including on New Year’s Eve.

“I can’t praise The Christie at Macclesfield enough,” said Philip. “The staff were incredibly professional, as one would expect. However, they go above and beyond to make you feel at ease, removing any fears you might have during treatment. They are using the very latest equipment, they answered all my questions and helped me understand how the treatment machine works.
“My appointments were on time, the receptionists were friendly, the centre was always clean, and they looked after me really well. It’s a very friendly atmosphere as you are treated as an individual.
“A lot of care has gone into the design of the building and training of staff at The Christie at Macclesfield. It really is the Rolls Royce of cancer treatment facilities, and we are so lucky in Cheshire to have it on our doorstep.
“Macclesfield is a better location for me compared with the Withington site. Coming to Macclesfield from mid-Cheshire saved me at least 20 minutes each way and meant I didn’t have to use the motorway. The journey time was much more predictable too, which is important to me, as I hate to be late for anything.
“Since finishing treatment, my side effects have been negligible, and I am pleased with what everyone at The Christie Macclesfield did for me. This is a fully patient-focused facility.”

Patients like Philip previously had to travel to Withington in South Manchester for treatment.

Rhiannon Breese, senior radiographer at The Christie at Macclesfield, said: “Philip was fascinated by how the radiotherapy linear accelerators worked and asked us lots of questions about them, which we were pleased to answer. Radiotherapy is such an unknown to so many people, so I find that taking the time to explain how it works takes away the fear.
“He was also very kind and brought fruit in for the staff once a week, which we really appreciated! We are delighted that he has found the new centre to be of a very high standard, as we aim to give all our patients at The Christie at Macclesfield the very best possible care.”

Philip’s son, Peter Harris, is running in the London Marathon on 23 April 2023 after years of trying to get in via the ballot system. He has decided to raise money for The Christie at Macclesfield, which has helped his dad.

At full capacity, The Christie at Macclesfield provides 46,000 patient appointments and visits each year and care closer to home for more than 1,500 patients a year. This includes around 12,500 radiotherapy appointments and 6,800 chemotherapy, immunotherapy and hormonal treatments.

The centre provides a range of holistic services, including outpatient care, nurse-led clinics, counselling services, an information centre, palliative care and clinical trials. It also has a CT scanner where radiotherapy treatments are planned, complementary therapy rooms and a charity centre.

Patients with rare and complex cancers will continue to be treated at The Christie in Withington.

The chief executive of The Christie, Roger Spencer, said: “It is already clear that The Christie at Macclesfield is making a big difference to our patients. For radiotherapy patients in particular, the new centre is cutting journey times for patients and their families.
“The staff have worked so hard to make The Christie at Macclesfield a success during its first year and will continue to do their very best for all our patients.”

The Christie has produced a short video of the new centre so that patients can look around before they come for treatment.

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. The radiotherapy centre in Withington remains the largest in Europe.

Work on The Christie at Macclesfield commenced in the summer of 2020, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was completed on time and on budget.

Following the completion of the new cancer centre, there is still more to be done to support cancer patients as they go through their treatment. The Christie charity provides enhanced services over and above what the NHS funds. This includes complementary therapy, patient refreshments, and other supportive services at Macclesfield. Gifts from the public make a huge difference to the care and treatment that we can provide. To support patients at The Christie at Macclesfield, visit the Macclesfield section of our charity website or call the team on 0161 446 3988.

Aspiring sports writer and Year 10 pupil Jamie McCabe got an inside view of his dream job when he invited one of the nation’s leading journalists Oliver Holt to give a talk at The King’s School, Macclesfield.

The 15-year-old from Over Alderley said: “It’s my absolute dream job to go to the best sports stadiums in the world and be paid for watching and writing about great sport. Me and many of my friends think what could possibly be better, so I invited Mr Holt to come and talk to us and tell us what it is really like.”

Former King’s pupil Oliver Holt, who left the top Macclesfield school to study History at Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1984, was the first to agree.

“You are certainly not wrong,” he replied, “It’s always been my dream job and I still consider myself to be very lucky today. I get to go the World Cup every four years and I go to Wimbledon every year. I’ve covered the Olympics, the Masters Golf and Formula One all over the world and it’s been fantastic and it still is.”

After Oxford University, Oliver completed a post graduate one year course in journalism at Cardiff before starting as a news reporter on the Liverpool Echo.

However, he never forgot his great passion: “As a kid I’d go to 80 or 90 football games a season. Stockport County were my team and are still today, but I’d go to all the City and United games I could get to as well.”

“So when I was on the Echo I asked if I could cover some sport and they let me cover Tranmere in the lower leagues on my days off. That’s how it started.”

After three years he moved to The Times as Motor Racing Correspondent before graduating to Chief Football Writer in 1996 in time to cover England’s hosting of the Euro Championships, and then to Chief Sports Correspondent in 2000.  He joined the Daily Mirror in 2002 as the Chief Sports Writer, and in 2015, he replaced the legendary Patrick Collins at The Mail on Sunday.  He was also a regular guest on the Sunday Supplement, among the elite of the press box airing their personal views for Sky’s Sunday morning magazine.

Taking questions from a large audience of pupils and staff, Oliver remembered his most impressive name check of those he had interviewed was not actually a sportsperson. “I covered Formula One in my early years and I interviewed the Hollywood legend Paul Newman, who was an Indycar team owner and that was pretty impressive, but of the sports people I have known, I am really glad to have had dinner with Wayne Rooney a few times. If anything his achievements on the field have been undervalued. As a young lad from Liverpool, he coped with the intense pressure he faced very well and now he has the makings of a pretty decent manager too.”

He then told the young men and women that journalism had changed dramatically in the 30 years he had been a reporter. “The internet means you are always on duty. We used to file our copy once day, but now with the online presence you have to be ready all the time.”

He was also very optimistic about the state of British sport and, in particular, the development of women’s team sports. “The achievement of the Lionesses was remarkable, wonderful for the country and young women in particular and all part of the democratisation of British sport.

“Also when I started, who would have thought we would have had British winners of the Tour de France or that a British man would win Wimbledon, plus, of course, now we have the Premier League, which is the best football league in the World.”

He had one final piece of advice for a young person trying to make their way in his profession. “Be persistent, don’t give up. If someone writes to me once, I’ll probably ignore it. If they do it twice, I’ll still probably ignore it but on the third time there’s fair chance I’ll reply.”

Jamie, who had put together a slide show of some of the events Oliver had covered and who was master of ceremonies for the Q & A session, had the last word, “It is just as I thought, sports journalism seems to be everything I have ever dreamed of and even more, if that is possible.”

David Lewis is one of the largest care providers in Cheshire who offer education, residential, medical, and therapeutic support for people with learning disabilities, epilepsy, autism and other complex support needs. Thanks to AstraZeneca’s generosity, hundreds of people who use their specialist facilities benefit from the thousands of hours donated in 2022.

Through their support with David Lewis, AstraZeneca has helped the charity complete a vast amount of projects that unlock spaces for inclusion and equal opportunities for children, young people and adults supported by the charity. David Lewis offers several services that aim to engage individuals with nature, farming, animals, conservation, horticulture woodcraft and sensory experiences, intended to help develop individuals knowledge, skills, increase independence and provide opportunities to be part of a team in a supportive environment.

Kirrie Todd, Head of Communications at AstraZeneca Macclesfield said, “Our employee volunteering programme is an incredible opportunity for our company to give back to the community in a meaningful way.

Part of our strategy is to be a great place to work, with a focus on inclusion and diversity. Employee Volunteering linked us with David Lewis which enabled our employees to support a cause they are really passionate about. It’s been a great way to contribute towards life changing projects and facilitate fun and inspiring team building activities.”

John Heritage, Chief Executive at David Lewis commented, “We are so proud to be supported by great companies like AstraZeneca. We are so grateful for AstraZeneca’s support with their employees volunteering their time to support our work and in such a practical way. 

We have pledged to plant over 1 million bulbs and over 9000 trees across our 200 acres of land in March this year. This will reduce our carbon footprint in line with our aspirations around environment and sustainability and this project will provide another great opportunity for us to connect with local businesses who are looking to make an impact in their community.”

AstraZeneca employees rolled up their sleeves tidying up allotments, weeding, painting fences, residential homes, animal paddocks and laying slabs to name a few.

The charity is keen to hear from any local organisations looking to benefit their communities through fundraising and volunteering, email enquries@davidlewis.org.uk to find out how you can get involved in future projects.