Treating more than 44,000 patients each year, 26% of our patients are referred here from hospitals across the UK. Every year, there are more than 6,500 patient journeys from the East Cheshire area which fall beyond the recommended travel time. For those patients who live furthest away, coming to The Christie can mean a journey time of two hours or more. This puts tremendous pressure on them and their families at a time when they are already dealing with emotional stress of a cancer diagnosis. The people of Macclesfield and surrounding communities are being urged to support The Christie charity to raise £23 million to build a state of the art new cancer centre in the grounds of Macclesfield District General Hospital.