Queen’s Hospital, Romford, praised for recruitment to national cancer study

Staff at Romford’s hospital have been praised for their role in a national cancer study.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) is one of 14 trusts taking part in a pilot project set up by Macmillan Cancer Support’s Older People’s Project.

Figures show that cancer mortality rates in the over-70s aren’t dropping as rapidly as in the younger population, and Macmillan teamed up with the Department of Health and Age UK to find out why.

BHRUT recruited 50 patients, including some at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, to take part in the scheme.

It tested new models of care, including: new methods of clinical assessment of older people with a cancer diagnosis, delivering short-term practical support packages to people having treatment, promoting age equality to address age discrimination in cancer services.

Dr Jackie Bridges, from Macmillan, praised the number of people who were encouraged to take part in the area.

She said: “This is an incredible achievement, particularly given the small amount of clinical nurse specialists involved.

“In addition to the benefits to patients who took part, the contribution of these individual nurses means that the findings from the study will be used to benefit other older patients during their cancer treatment.”