Evaluation of PSA monitoring in primary care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of PSA monitoring in primary care after discharge from hospital based follow-up following prostate cancer treatment
IRAS ID
241415
Contact name
Janelle Yorke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK (Cancer Research UK). National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend that prostate cancer patients should be monitored within primary care for two years after completing their treatment. The guidelines do not specify what follow-up should include and what is expected of primary care. There is an easily available blood test called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) which can be used to identify potential prostate cancer recurrence (Watson et al., 2011). In Greater Manchester there is very little uniformity in terms of prostate cancer follow-up and PSA monitoring and it is unclear at the moment whether PSA monitoring is being conducted in primary care and if patients are being re-referred when they should be. As a result, health professionals are often reluctant to discharge patients after their treatment.
In order to develop safe and effective follow-up procedures , this study aims to conduct face-to-face or telephone interviews with patients (~12-18) and GPs (~7-10) from Salford and Trafford Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to explore what barriers and facilitators exist to providing safe and effective PSA monitoring in primary care and identify characteristics that may impact on engagement with PSA monitoring.Eligible patients will be men who have received a diagnosis of prostate cancer and have been discharged to primary care in Salford or Trafford CCGs within the last ten years, 18 years of age or older, able to speak and understand English and give written informed consent. There will be no specific inclusion criteria for GPs.
Funding is provided by The Urology Foundation, The Christie Surgical Urology Fund and The Christie Oncology Fund.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/YH/0266
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion