Palliative Care Referral Triggers Study Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing the sensitivity and acceptability of the Royal Marsden Palliative Care Referral “Triggers” Tool and Integrated Palliative Care Service for patients with cancer.
IRAS ID
243246
Contact name
Joanne Droney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Royal Marsden NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 4 days
Research summary
Early Palliative care (PC) goes beyond End of Life Care. PC is beneficial to patients throughout their illness, from diagnosis, and can be involved alongside their anti-cancer treatment. Many patients living with cancer who are not actively dying have complex PC needs as measured by symptom burden and Quality of Life tools.
There is a need to develop a robust mechanism to identify the PC needs of patients with cancer earlier in their disease trajectory. Barriers identified to early referral in studies include lack of resources and not using validated tools to assess symptom burden and supportive needs in this population.
The study is based on the Royal Marsden “Triggers” service which is a novel integrated service developed by the PC team in the Oncology Outpatient Clinics, to facilitate early, appropriate access to specialist PC.
This service is underpinned by the use of a PC “Triggers” tool which is used to triage patients and identify those who would benefit from a formal PC needs assessment. The brief, seven item “Triggers” tool is based on indicators compiled by the London Cancer Alliance Palliative Care and End of Life Care Pathway Group, now RM Partners Palliative Care Group. It is completed by oncology clinicians on the basis of their usual patient consultation, without any additional assessment or resources.
The aim of the research is to assess the sensitivity of the Triggers tool in identifying patients with PC needs by comparing the PC needs of patients who are “Triggers positive” versus those who are “Triggers negative”. We will also compare the RM Triggers tool PC to the referral criteria proposed by the Delphi study.
We will also test the acceptability of the PC referral Triggers Tool to staff and explore the understanding and acceptability of early integrated PC to patients and staff through qualitative interviews.REC name
London - Harrow Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1373
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion