On World Cancer Day it’s important to remember that cancer doesn’t have boundaries and neither does The Christie - Sophie Kennedy

Sophie Kennedy, Head of International Business Development

Sophie Kennedy

On World Cancer Day it’s important to remember that cancer doesn’t have boundaries and neither does The Christie.

I love working at The Christie, it is unlike any hospital where I have worked or indeed, been a patient. The friendliness and caring approach of the staff and the time they are more than willing to give is exceptional. Alongside this we achieve fantastic clinical outcomes that help drive The Christie’s world class reputation, delivered by experts in their field that are able to ensure our patients are receiving the most appropriate treatment for them. 

That may sound like it is pulled from a marketing brochure but I speak from personal experience. I was diagnosed with skin cancer in the summer of last year. I was very lucky that we had caught it early and my treatment was successful. It enabled me to experience our services first hand so I know what I am talking about when I describe them to others and I am passionate about ensuring we are able to continue to deliver these amazing services.

On World Cancer Day it’s important to remember that cancer doesn’t have boundaries and neither does The Christie. We are lucky enough to attract some of the brightest minds and best clinicians from around the world to Manchester. We constantly reach out and look at what we can learn from others around the world and are very pleased to be part of a global community working together to provide the best services to patients worldwide and to further the battle against cancer.

We first developed our International strategy in 2013; it aims to promote The Christie’s concept of comprehensive cancer care internationally, deliver philanthropic support overseas and also to work with commercial partners in healthcare organisations globally to assist them to provide world class cancer services which are comparable to ours.

The Christie’s experience and skill of developing treatments and providing services for over 100 years in one of the largest radiotherapy centres internationally, the largest chemotherapy unit in the UK and using some of the most advanced surgical techniques means we are able to offer consulting services to other organisations who wish to set up similar services. We have recently been named as the most technologically advanced cancer centre outside North America, and we have also been rated as outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. 

Over the last three years we have reached far and wide across the globe and have worked with clients from many countries including:

• Australia 
• Bangladesh
• Canada
• Egypt
• Hong Kong
• India
• Iraq 
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Oman
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka

Our international services can be delivered in a number of ways. Sometimes we send our staff out to consult and to train within the overseas organisation, and other times clients have come to The Christie, either for observerships or for education and training. 

I have worked at The Christie for two years and have been promoting the international work over the last year. My aim is to build on the strong partnerships that we already have in the Trust with companies such as HCA for providing our private patient services; Alliance Medical for providing our PET CT imaging and Boots for our pharmacy service. All these partnerships provide essential additional income for the Trust, and help to support our services as NHS budgets come under increasing pressure.  

I have been working with a variety of teams across the Trust in order to pull a number of key products together that we can offer to our potential clients throughout the world. We have started with the following but will be looking to build on this in the future:

• Strategic consultancy
• Radiotherapy and chemotherapy service design 
• Education and training
• Second opinion consultancy service
• Quality review

Each product can be offered independently or as part of a package. 

We will continue to work across the Trust developing products that we will promote through a variety of channels like the British embassies abroad, government organisations such as Healthcare UK and the UK International Healthcare Management Association (UKIHMA) and through partnerships with other healthcare and consultancy providers.

As I said when I started this blog, I love working at The Christie and I am so very lucky in my current job to be working alongside so many people who have a passion for their work too. Professors, doctors, radiotherapists, nurses, researchers, scientists, educators and project managers who are not only leading experts in their fields but who also have a passion for spreading The Christie’s expertise globally. 

If you’d like to get in touch to have a chat about our international work then please drop me a line at sophie.kennedy@christie.nhs.uk or if you would like to read our marketing brochure feel free to take a look at our website where you will be able to access The Christie International video and brochure.