Title
NIHR Cancer Policy Research Unit: A cohort study monitoring cancer-related primary care activity and patient outcomes, and the impact of significant events.
Chief Investigator(s)
Professor Clare Bankhead, Associate Professor Brian Nicholson
Organisation
University of Oxford, NDPCHS
Summary
Most people diagnosed with cancer first see their GP about their symptoms. We know there are differences in the rates of people consulting their doctors by ethnicity and deprivation, but there is little evidence about the type of symptoms and the size of the inequalities that exist.
The National Health Service (NHS) has set a target to diagnose 3 out of 4 people with cancer at an early-stage by 2028. To help meet this target we will use the ORCHID-E Research Database to analyse the data from millions of people. We will explore any differences in consultations (for relevant symptoms), tests, referrals and cancers diagnosed by age, sex, ethnicity, regional distribution and deprivation.
We will monitor the impact of cancer awareness campaigns, policy changes and any high impact events on cancer-related primary care activity.
We will work with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, NHS Screening Programmes, cancer charities and other policymakers to develop our research. We will feed back our findings to these groups. This will help to make changes to public health and clinical practice, such as running targeted cancer awareness programmes for some patient groups. Our findings will help diagnose more cancers at an early stage.
Data Resources
ORCHID-E
PrimDISC Reference Number
PD-0031-2023
Date of PrimDISC Approval
29th January 2024