Clatterbridge nurse wins Churchill scholarship to carry out vital cancer research abroad – Birkenhead News

A senior nurse at The Clatterbridge Cancer Center NHS Foundation Trust – which provides specialist cancer services for Cheshire and Merseyside – has won a coveted Churchill Scholarship and funding to carry out vital research into a cancer diagnosis most people don’t know about have never heard

Alison Taylor, consultant nurse in acute oncology at The Clatterbridge Cancer Center in Liverpool, will travel to Australia to see how they care for people with unknown primary cancer (UPC) – the diagnosis given when the cancer has spread through the body and is not possible . to tell where it started (primary cancer).

Around two percent (2%) of people diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK will be told they have an unknown primary cancer (UPC). Many end up in A&E after going there because they felt very unwell and didn’t know what was wrong. Unfortunately, CUP can be aggressive and there are only a few treatment options.

As a consultant nurse specializing in acute oncology – an area that includes urgent and emergency cancer care – Alison regularly cares for patients with CUP and has seen the impact first-hand.

“I think the pain and psychological impact of being diagnosed with CUP is much greater than for other cancers,” says Alison, “both for patients and their families. People with CUP have to live with so much uncertainty.

“Modern cancer treatments are often carefully tailored to specific tumor types, cell changes or genetic mutations. When you don’t know where the cancer started and what types of cell changes are involved, it’s harder to treat and can be harder for people to live with.

“I really want to change that by looking at the Australian health system that cares and supports people with CUP and see what we can learn from it for the UK.”

Alison will visit Melbourne and other parts of Australia to see how genomic testing is being tested as part of CUP diagnosis and treatment planning, even in the most remote geographical regions. The study aims to find the best way to routinely build genomic testing into CUP care to try to identify which cellular changes are involved so that patients can receive the most appropriate treatment for them.

“I am incredibly excited about the opportunity and determined to bring back learning that will help us improve care for people with CUP both here in Cheshire and Merseyside and across the UK,” says Alison. “I am very grateful to the Churchill Fellowship for selecting me.”

The research trip is funded by the Churchill Fellowship, a charity established in 1965 as a legacy of Sir Winston Churchill.

A Churchill Scholarship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, open to all adult UK citizens, to drive the change they want to see. The charity funds applicants to spend between four and eight weeks meeting experts in their field from anywhere in the world, in person and/or online, building international networks that promote mutual exchange of knowledge. They then help fellows make a difference in their community or UK professional sector, based on insights inspired by these exchanges.

Alison will spend a month in Australia this fall and will write up her findings and recommendations in a report when she returns.

Applications for the following Churchill Scholarships open on September 4th.

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