NHS want to transform cancer treatment with 'life saving' study for five types of the disease

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In what is set to be a massive undertaking for cancer treatment, the NHS has vowed to transform people's lives in a brand new initiative that aims to tackle three major projects and five types of cancers. As part of these trials, 150,000 volunteers are being sought to change the face of treating the disease.

The NHS report that 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. They hope that the research trials could transform cancer treatment as we know it.

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.

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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.

Thirdly, 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.

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."

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 is the Children’s Surgery Outcome Reporting project, which will focus on the care given to children who need complex surgery shortly after birth.

The children's study will require around 4,000 volunteers for the research to improve the experience of children undergoing surgery.

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”.

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

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