Patient experience of HNC treatment within a tertiary care unit v1.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient experience of head and neck cancer treatment across multiple sites within a tertiary care unit
IRAS ID
292565
Contact name
Jason Fleming
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
UK Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) care is now centralised and follows a ‘hub and spoke’ organisation design. The Liverpool Head and Neck Centre (Aintree University Hospital) and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre are examples of these HNC hubs where surgical and medical oncology sites are often further separated. A typical patient journey will constitute meetings with ENT/ Head and Neck surgeons, head and neck oncologists and specialist therapists who can each be based at different settings. Consequently, this frequent and often expedited transfer of care between hospital trusts means that patient records are often unavailable at important appointments and care episodes, contributing to fragmentation and potential confusion and anxiety for the patient. This complexity has been further exacerbated by the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Using semi-structured interviews this study aims to retrospectively qualitatively analyse the experiences of patients with HNC with regards to crossing trusts for treatment, including difficulties experienced within the cancer hub and spoke model process present in the region.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/0233
Date of REC Opinion
24 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion