NHS launches search for 150,000 volunteers to help transform cancer treatment

The NHS is launching a search for nearly 150,000 volunteers to take part in a series of research trials that could transform cancer treatment.

Three cancer projects have been selected as part of the NHS DigiTrials initiative, which aims to sign up tens of thousands of volunteers over the next 2 years to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients.

Eligible people will start receiving letters and text messages from the NHS encouraging them to join the research projects from this month.

The biggest trial being supported, BEST4 Heartburn Health, requires 120,000 volunteers to help test a new screening technique for oesophageal cancer, which involves swallowing a compressed sponge on a string to extract cells from the food pipe.

A further 20,000 volunteers are needed for MyMelanoma, which will carry out the largest study of melanoma ever performed, to improve understanding of melanoma skin cancer and its treatment.

The PROTECT-C trial, funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research, will also recruit 5,000 women to take part in saliva-based genetic tests to check their genetic risk of developing ovarian, breast, endometrial and colorectal cancer.

The NHS DigiTrials recruitment service, which is managed by NHS England, identifies NHS patients who might be suitable for a certain trial and contacts them to see if they would like to take part.

An additional study being supported by DigiTrials, the Children’s Surgery Outcome Reporting project, will also focus on the care given to children who need complex surgery shortly after birth.

Vin Diwakar, National Director of Transformation at NHS England, said: “We’re pleased to be able to announce our support for these new research studies, 3 of which will help detect and treat cancer earlier and another which will improve the care of young children needing complex surgery – studies which could ultimately save lives.

“Clinical trials and other studies can often struggle to find and recruit eligible patients – particularly those facing the greatest inequalities – so the NHS’s DigiTrials service is able to invite people who are suitable for these research studies faster, fairly and at scale.

“The DigiTrials team will now start contacting people who may be eligible for the studies to see if they would like to take part, so I’d encourage anyone who receives a text message or letter from the NHS to consider signing up so that this ground-breaking research helps people like you and your communities.

“The trials will see the NHS working with leading academics across the country on research which could transform cancer treatment and benefit patients for decades to come”.

Baroness Merron, Health Minister responsible for research and life sciences said: “Revolutionising cancer treatment and screening for everyone could be a lifesaver, giving people the precious time needed to catch cancer quicker, so I’d encourage everyone contacted by NHS DigiTrials to consider taking part in one of these critical studies.

“As part of our 10 Year Health Plan to radically reform our broken NHS, this government is committed to fighting cancer on all fronts, from prevention to diagnosis, treatment and research”.

The BEST4 Heartburn Health trial will explore if an oral test using a compressed sponge can prevent deaths from cancer of the food pipe when offered as routine screening.

The test reduces the need for an invasive endoscopy and involves patients swallowing a small capsule-shaped sponge on a string that collects cell samples for analysis before being extracted using the string.

Previous studies have shown the device detected 10 times more cases of Barrett’s oesophagus, which can lead to cancer, compared with routine GP care.

The research is being jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research and includes research teams from the Early Cancer Institute, University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London.

Peter Sasieni, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Prevention Trials Unit at Queen Mary University of London and co-lead investigator on the BEST4 grant, said: “Working with NHS DigiTrials will enable us to recruit people from all sectors of society to ensure that no one is left behind by our research.

“Our clinical studies have already led to the capsule sponge being used within the NHS to help manage patients with heartburn, and this trial will see whether screening can reduce the risk of developing or dying from cancer of the food pipe”.

Professor Mark Middleton, Chief Investigator of MyMelanoma and Head of the Department of Oncology at the University of Oxford, said: “Being chosen as one of 4 studies to pilot the NHS’s DigiTrials recruitment service is an amazing opportunity for MyMelanoma and the patients with whom we work.

“Our partnership will let us offer patients all around the country both the chance to take part in research into melanoma, and to have a say in how that research is done.

“It will help make MyMelanoma the largest ever melanoma study and let us answer research questions we simply couldn’t tackle before, with the goal of providing a more individualised approach to patient care”.

Professor Ranjit Manchanda, who is leading the PROTECT-C trial at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at the Queen Mary University of London, said: “We are thrilled to be working with NHS DigiTrials to support invitations and recruitment for the PROTECT-C study.

“It supports delivery of a digitally enabled pathway that could revolutionise the applicability of genetic testing in healthcare, within the framework of the NHS.

“The concept of broadening genetic testing for cancer genes across the entire population, beyond just the current criteria-based approach, could prevent thousands more cancers than any current strategy, saving many lives”.

The Children’s Surgery Outcome Reporting project, which is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research also needs around 4,000 volunteers to improve the experience of children undergoing surgery.

Ben Allin, Academic Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Surgery in the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Population Health, said: “Participating in the NHS DigiTrials pilot will allow us to work much more quickly to improve the care given to children who need complex surgery shortly after they are born.

“Working with NHS DigiTrials will enable us to invite parents of a wide group of children to participate in the Children’s Surgery Outcomes Reporting system and we will then be better able to help hospitals to improve the way they treat children with these rare surgical conditions”.

Information about taking part in clinical trials is also available on the nhs.uk website.