Prof. Galina Velikova honoured with PROMs Career Achievement Award
Congratulations to Professor Galina Velikova (Patient Centred Outcomes Research, LIMR and the Leeds Cancer Centre, LTHT), who has been awarded a prestigious Career Achievement Prize for significant contributions to improving patient-centred care through integration of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in clinical practice. The prize is awarded by the internationally leading organisation on medical outcomes measurement: USA Health Assessment Lab/Medical Outcomes.
Professor Velikova has worked for 30 years as a medical oncology consultant in the Leeds Teaching Hospital and a clinical academic in the University of Leeds, combining busy oncology practice with pioneering clinical research contributing to the evidence-base for implementing patient-reported outcome measures in the care of cancer patients.
Professor Velikova will present her work and receive her award at the ISQua conference in Istanbul on 26th September 2024. More information regarding the announcement can be found here and here. Additionally, further information is available about our ongoing research in Leeds.
The final report now available from the eRAPID programme!
Supported by an NIHR programme grant funding (RP-PG-0611-20008) we developed and tested an online system, called eRAPID (electronic patient self-Reporting of Adverse-events: Patient Information and aDvice). eRAPID was co-designed with patients and cancer staff to help support how symptoms and side effects of cancer and treatment are monitored and managed. The system was designed to allow patients to report symptoms online from home and receive tailored management advice. The patient symptom reports were made available via electronic health records for hospital staff to use as part of patient reviews. During the programme successfully delivered eRAPID in three treatment groups (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery) and at three hospitals (Leeds, Manchester and Bristol). Patient and staff feedback suggested that eRAPID was acceptable and well received.
We conducted a randomised controlled trial with over 500 patients starting chemotherapy in Leeds for breast, gynaecological and colorectal cancers. The trial findings indicated that that eRAPID did not lead to significant improvement in patient symptom control at the end of the study (18 weeks). However, in both the chemotherapy randomised controlled trial and the radiotherapy pilot, eRAPID appeared to be beneficial earlier in treatment. In addition the eRAPID intervention had a positive impact on patient wellbeing and confidence to manage health
The eRAPID approach is now being taken forward in a range of further studies and projects. In Leeds, we have been awarded further funding from NIHR to support additional in-depth analysis and exploration of cancer symptom profiles from the eRAPID programme. Through this project we aim to understand more about how the intervention practically worked and explore how to best visually present the patient-reported symptom data to patients and staff. Our surgical colleagues in Bristol were awarded an NIHR RfPB programme grant to progress the pilot work conducted during the eRAPID programme. The ROSE study is a multi-centre randomised controlled trial using eRAPID and will find out if patients recovering at home after surgery for oesophago-gastric cancer benefit from feedback following electronic web-based reporting and monitoring of their symptoms. We are also supporting the clinical implementation of eRAPID into breast and lung cancer care in Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Read more about the methods and findings from the eRAPID programme by visiting the NIHR Research Journals Library: https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/pgfar/FDDE8516#/abstract
Successful implementation of eRAPID RCT: an eHealth Intervention during systemic cancer treatment
Congratulations to the PCOR clinical researchers and oncologists and nurses from the Leeds Cancer Centre, who completed and recently published (https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.20.02015) a unique UK trial (eRAPID, electronic patient self-Reporting of Adverse-events: Patient Information and aDvice).
Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the eRAPID trial set out to establish whether symptom control could be improved using automated advice, to try to improve patients’ wellbeing. It included 508 patients aged 18 to 86 who were starting chemotherapy at Leeds Cancer Centre. All patients received their usual care, with 256 receiving the eRAPID system as additional care.
Patients reported better symptom control and physical wellbeing in the early weeks of treatment, with the system preventing symptom deterioration in about nine percent of patients after 12 weeks. Patients reported more confidence in managing their health at the end of their four-month trial period. The results demonstrate that improvements to patients’ physical wellbeing can be achieved in a cost-effective way without increasing clinicians’ workload. For more information about the study please click here
Middle Row from L-R: Galina Velikova and Sarah Dickinson.
Bottom Row from L-R: Robert Carter, Marie Holmes and Andrea Gibson.
SIDECAR Launch Event
On 18th September 2019 the DECIDE team hosted an End of Study Event to mark the official launch of the SIDECAR tool (Scales measuring the Impact of DEmentia on CARers). The event included presentations from the study’s principal investigators and partners. For more detail please click here
PCOR 20 year celebrations 1996 – 2016
On Thursday 3rd November 2016 the Section of Patient Centred Outcomes Research (PCOR) celebrated their 20 year anniversary at University House. The team welcomed 60 guests including past and current colleagues and collaborators. Guest speakers on the day included, Professor Neil Aaronson (Netherlands Cancer Institute), Dr Yvette Oade (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) and Professor Jose Valderas (University of Exeter). Patient representatives Barbara Woroncow and Geoff Ogden also contributed to the programme.
Originally established by Professor Peter Selby and now led by Professor Galina Velikova, PCOR is internationally known for its innovative research on the development and application of patient reported outcomes in oncology practice. Within the section, Dr Penny Wright and Dr Dan Stark lead research on psychosocial-oncology and teenage and young adult cancer.
Please find below the presentations that were given on the day:
1-prof-galina-velikova_welcome-message
2-prof-peter-selby_the-role-of-quality-of-life-and-psychosocial-research-up-to-1996
3-dr-penny-wright_psychosocial-oncology-and-clinical-practice-research-in-leeds-1996-present
4-prof-neil-aaronson_behavioural-and-psychosocial-intervention-trials-in-oncology
5-dr-yvette-oade_nhs-perspective-from-research-to-improving-patient-care
6-prof-jose-valderas_systematic-reviews-and-guidance-on-implementing-pros-in-clinical-practice
7-dr-dan-stark_remote-follow-up-of-germ-cell-cancer-patients-with-online-proms
8-dr-alex-gilbert_proms-for-monitoring-radiotherapy-toxicity