Project Swallow

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Project Swallow: Living with oesophageal cancer

• IRAS ID

  236919

• Contact name

  Elizabeth Murray

• Contact email

  Elizabeth.murray@ucl.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Universtiy College London

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  Z6364106/2018/06/45, Data protection number

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Oesophageal (Gullet) Cancer is the 4th largest cause of cancer death in the UK. It has one of the highest death rates of any cancer. London Cancer has established a new pathway for people with oesophageal cancer. Surgery is performed by a single ‘high volume specialist centre’ at UCL hospital, with supportive care delivered by local hospitals. This type of pathway has shown to have better results; however, it can be cause problems for patients and health care staff. Patients in this new pathway often have their treatment spread between several different hospitals, which can be confusing and lead to missed appointments. It can also create more work for the Cancer Nurse Specialists (CNS), who provide expert support to cancer patients, as they need to organise treatments at different hospitals. This means they have less time to support patients’ physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs leading to worse patient experience.

  The aim of the project is develop a digital health intervention to be used by oesophageal cancer patients, their carer and their health care professional looking after them. The study will use qualitative methodology which includes interviews, focus groups and a literature review.

  The DHI will
  • Improve patient knowledge of their disease and treatments options
  • Provide physical, emotional, spiritual and social support
  • Provide treatment guidelines for healthcare staff
  • Reduce administrative workload on healthcare staff

  Our future goal outside the remit of this ethics application is to implement the digital health intervention into the clinical setting and then formally evaluate its effectiveness before dissemination across the NHS.

• REC name

  London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/LO/1717

• Date of REC Opinion

  22 Oct 2018

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion