Cancer awareness

Cancer Awareness Public Meeting at Castlemere Community Centre

Cancer Awareness Public Meeting was held on Thursday 7 February, 2013, at 10 a.m. at Castlemere Community Centre, Tweedale Street, Rochdale.

Lord Keith Bradley, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Christie Hospital, Christine Mathewson, Governor of the Christie Hospital, Tahir Mahmood, Chairman of the Rochdale Council of Mosques, Representatives of the National Health Service (NHS) and Primary Care Trust (PCT) of Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood and various organisations, leaders of the community and various organisations and large number of women attended the event.

Ghulam Rasul Shahzad OBE JP, interpreted, translated and provided summaries of the whole event.

Lord Keith Bradley thanked everyone for their contribution and particularly the Rochdale Council of Mosques and Castlemere Community Centre for providing the use of the hall and the food.

He explained about the services provided by the Christie Hospital and said this is the biggest single site hospital in Europe. It has two sites, in London and Manchester. Its annual budget is £35 million which is met by the donations of 24000 individuals, 500 companies and 100 events organised throughout the year. It has 2500 members of the staff and 240 volunteers who give their valuable time. Christie Manchester has set up two Centres in Oldham and Salford. It treats 40,000 patients every year. He said the services provided are of the highest quality. He also explained about the Vision -20-20 and the changes that are taking place. He assured members of the public and the staff that the Christie will remain a Centre of Excellence.

He continued and said the Christie is continuously improving its services to the patients and initiated the Proton Therapy, Robot surgery, International link, young patient’s treatment Centre, Research Centre, Link with Manchester University and other universities to educate people etc.

He said he was pleased to come to Rochdale and meet with the members of the local community, PCT staff and leaders of the local community.

Christine Mathewson, Christie’s Governor, welcomed everyone to the meeting and said being the Governor on the Board of Governors, she works with community groups and is the representative of the people of Rochdale to improve services and, at the same time, she is part of the team of Governors who try to improve services for the community.

She explained the role of the Governors and members of the Christie Hospital and said it is important to involve the community so that, in the light of the feedback, we can improve our services to the community.

She also explained about the four symptoms of cancer and emphasised that the community should contact their GPs and they will refer them to the hospital. Prevention is better at an early stage.

Janet Dickenson, Oral Health Promotion Pennine Care made a presentation about the oral health and emphasised that people should have check up regularly after every six months.

Ghulam Rasul Shahzad OBE JP emphasised that, in the light of the presentation and the information provided, the members and leaders of the community should own this issue. How can we see a person suffering from cancer and do nothing. We should not have fear to contact our GP because they are there to look after our health. We should immediately contact their GPs and report any symptoms outlined and explained by Christine Mathewson, Governor of the Christie, in her presentation.

He thanked Lord Keith Bradley, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Christie Hospital, Christine Mathewson, and Governor of the Christie, PCT Staff, and representatives of various organisations, leaders and members of the community and particularly who attended the event and made it successful. Later food was served.