Rochdale Infirmary staff feature in video with renowned Manchester poet to mark World Cancer Day

Kelly McDaid, Theatre Team Manager at Rochdale Infirmary

Rochdale Care Organisation is featured in a campaign launched on World Cancer Day (Thursday 4 February), which brings cancer doctors, researchers and patients from across Greater Manchester together with Manchester poet Tony Walsh, to highlight continued commitment to cancer services, despite the on-going pandemic.

The team at Rochdale Infirmary welcomed the GM Cancer Network team on site last week to take footage of some of the key areas inside and outside the hospital, which was remodelled at the start of the pandemic, to enable cancer patients from across the region to continue to receive urgent care.

Patients needing urgent elective treatments, including cancer care have continued throughout the pandemic across the Northern Care Alliance, with Rochdale providing a new location for general surgery cancer, gynaecological cancer, skin cancer and urological cancer pathway patients.

The cancer community across the region is vast, ranging from cancer nurses, to pathologists, scientists, radiologists, administration teams and managers, all playing a role in providing the best care and treatment possible to those affected.

Manchester poet Tony Walsh underlines the love, dedication and Greater Manchester’s cancer expertise in his latest work ‘Innit, love?’ released to mark Greater Manchester’s response to World Cancer Day.

The team at Rochdale feature in some of the video footage and imagery, in recognition of the work they’ve delivered to thousands of patients from across the region.

Steve Taylor, Chief Officer at Rochdale Care Organisation, said: “On World Cancer Day it’s a privilege for us to have featured in this piece in collaboration with our colleagues across Greater Manchester, and I am incredibly proud of each and every one of our colleagues for their fantastic efforts and commitment in delivering such vital work during COVID allowing us to support our cancer patients during the period of change and adaptation.”

Tony’s poem ‘Innit, love?’ includes a moving tribute to friends and family lost to the disease as well as touching on challenging emotions and experiences of people affected by cancer.