News

The NCRN CC held their regional Roadshows in May and June 2008. All three were a great success, achieving all they set out for. The events were held in London on 23rd May, Leeds on 5th June and Birmingham on 18th June and were attended by over 350 delegates.

The invitations to the Roadshows were open to all staff working on cancer trials within the NIHR portfolio network, management teams and staff in the devolved nations, consumers, representatives from cancer clinical trials unit staff and our colleagues in the service networks, all of whom contribute to the success we have experienced over the years.

The aim of the events was to update cancer research network management teams and research staff (whether NCRN funded or not) on the many changes and pressures that the Network is facing. Just as importantly, this was the perfect opportunity to celebrate the successes achieved by NCRN as a whole and encourage staff to share their experiences through networking.

Each event talked about the current challenges faced by the NCRN including performance measures, recruitment to rarer cancer diseases, delivering on industry trials, the establishment of Comprehensive Local Research Networks and how to engage staff in national ‘vision, aims & objectives’ at local network level.

The afternoon sessions comprised of three interactive workshops led by Network Managers and Consumers:

“Awareness“. The aim of this workshop was to identify the promoters and barriers to creating an awareness of cancer clinical trials with all stakeholders.

“Action“. The aim of this workshop was to provide delegates with the opportunity to use patient pathway planning as part of study initiation or troubleshooting.

“Acceptance“. The aim of this workshop was to discuss the key factors influencing the acceptance/decline by patients of research involvement in clinical trials and to outline recommendations to enhance current practice. Each of the workshops included presentations from and discussions with Consumers and our thanks go to Vivien Lane from the North Trent Consumer Research Panel and Richard Stephens from the NCRI Consumer Liaison Group for their input.

The NCRN Coordinating Centre team would like to thank all those who attended and contributed to the success of the events.

Some very positive feedback was gratefully received. Please find below just some of this feedback from delegates who attended….

“I have a much better picture of how NCRN works and how things can be improved still further”

“A really good day. Look forward to receiving the presentations. Thanks very much”.

“Could we have a Roadshow every year?! It was good to be given the opportunity to meet people from other centres. It was also really great to be given an update from the top and the opportunity to ask questions”.

“It was interesting to hear a patients view”.

“Found it an informative day. Good listening to other people’s views/approaches, which I may incorporate into my working practice”.

New Staff
 

Dr Karen Poole has been appointed as NCRN Assistant Director (London based) from January 2009.  Until now Karen was on secondment in the role, so we are thrilled to have Karen as a fully fledged member of the team! Karen will be based in London and will focus on the leadership, management and development of the local research networks; oversight of the national portfolio of cancer studies and interface with funding bodies and Clinical Trials Units. 

Ruth McLaren has been appointed as NCRN Network Development Lead, as of February 2009. Ruth was also seconded previously but we are delighted to have her on the team on a permanent basis. Ruth will still be leading on NCRN training & education initiatives but will have more focus on overseeing the delivery and development of the 33 cancer research networks across England.

Po Houng Lai joined the team on 12th January as Consumer Liaison Clerical Assistant. Po Houng will provide dedicated administrative support to the NCRI Consumer Liaison Group and also supports Mrs Karen Inns, Consumer Liaison Lead.