Coordinating a rapidly emerging research area
As the pandemic evolved, so did a new research area, COVID-19 and cancer. Registry studies rapidly emerged to document changes in cancer treatment and care. NCRI, using insights gathered from our Partners and Group members, compiled a list of COVID-19 registry studies to encourage knowledge sharing and enable collaboration.
NCRI also supported Health Data Research UK in collecting and prioritising health data research questions relating to cancer and COVID-19, submitting this information to the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Committee. This rapid intelligence-gathering and sharing was only possible due to NCRI’s established connections within the cancer research community.
NCRI’s Clinical and Translational Radiotherapy Research Working Group (CTRad), which focuses on clinical and translational issues relating to radiotherapy, developed COVID RT to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on both radiotherapy patients and radiotherapy services in the UK.
Developed in partnership with the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) and The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), COVID RT has seen participation from 55 radiotherapy centres across all four nations.
COVID RT is creating a central repository where locally collected data can be compiled for analysis. The outputs will be essential to assess the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and inform the response to future pandemics.
Understanding the impact on cancer research and care
To understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer services and research, NCRI, alongside Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and Public Health England‘s National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (PHE NCRAS), brought together researchers from several different disciplines. The discussion identified the following areas that require further research and where we must learn lessons to improve research, care and help prepare for future crises.
- Knowledge and communication of risk
- Impact on diagnosis and care pathways
- Impact on health-related behaviours and effects on quality of life
- Use of health data
We must work together across cancer research, care and beyond to address some of the key questions raised and take forward what we have learnt to ensure we can realise our ambitions for cancer prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.