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Contact Information:

Mr John Defty
jed1e16@soton.ac.uk


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Be Part of Research - Trial Details - Patient and informal caregiver responses to symptoms during cancer treatment.
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Patient and informal caregiver responses to symptoms during cancer treatment.

Recruiting

Open to: All Genders

Age: Mixed

Poole Salisbury

Medical Conditions

Patients at risk of, or who have accessed urgent and emergency care services for, complications of cancer and its treatment (and their informal caregivers).

This information is provided directly by researchers, and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information. In some summaries, you may come across links to external websites. These websites will have more information to help you better understand the study.


People with cancer frequently have to access urgent and emergency care services for complications of their disease or its treatment. Complications can be serious and are sometimes life-threatening. Little is known about how patients and their informal caregivers decide whether they need to use these services when they become unwell during cancer treatment. Few studies have explored how people with cancer choose between services and how accessing specialist services is influenced by the different ways in which they are set up. This study aims to address these gaps in our knowledge.

Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.  

The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:

11 Dec 2024 01 Apr 2026

In the first component, participants will be asked to use a diary to record any symptoms they experience over a 6-week period. Afterwards, they will be interviewed to explore what they thought was causing these symptoms and what actions they took in response. In the second component, participants who have recently used an urgent or emergency care service will be invited to an interview. This interview will explore why they decided to seek help and how they experienced gaining access to these services.


People with cancer and their informal caregivers (e.g. family members or friends) who are at least 18 years old. Patient participants must be receiving care or treatment for an established cancer diagnosis at one of the study locations. The study will be conducted in two components. For the first component, patients must be receiving (or due to start) non-surgical cancer treatment, or have an ongoing complication of cancer or its treatment. For the second component, patient-participants must have accessed an urgent or emergency care service in the past two weeks for a suspected complication of cancer or its treatment. Informal caregivers can not take part on their own and they must be providing unpaid support to someone with cancer participating in the study.

You can take part if:



You may not be able to take part if:


Patient participant exclusion criteria: both study components1. Age <18 years2. No confirmed cancer diagnosis (including malignancy of unknown origin)3. People receiving surgery as cancer treatment only4. People resident at a nursing or care home, hospice or other institutional care setting5. Prisoners or people supervised by representatives of His Majesty’s Prison Service

Patient participant exclusion criteria: prospective component1. People discharged from the care of an oncologist or haematologist2. People in the last hours or days of life


Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.

  • University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
    Management Offices Poole Hospital Longfleet Road
    Poole
    BH15 2JB
  • Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
    Salisbury District Hospital Odstock Road
    Salisbury
    SP2 8BJ

There are no direct benefits from taking part in this study. However, the study will identify what matters to people with cancer when they become unwell at home. We hope this will help cancer teams, service managers and health policy-makers to make improvements to services that will benefit future patients. There is a risk that participants might find some of the topics in the interview upsetting.

Mr John Defty
jed1e16@soton.ac.uk



The study is sponsored by University of Southampton and funded by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.



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Read full details for Trial ID: ISRCTN31984588
Last updated 04 December 2025

This page is to help you find out about a research study and if you may be able to take part

You can print or share the study information with your GP/healthcare provider or contact the research team directly.   

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