Study will examine experience of people who have dementia and cancer

A leading dementia researcher has received a £155,000 grant to examine ways to improve cancer treatment and care for people who have both cancer and dementia.

Leeds Beckett University professor of dementia studies Claire Surr will lead a team of researchers to profile the size and demographics of the population of people with cancer and dementia from a large dataset of GP records. 

The team will undertake interviews and observations in local hospital cancer services to understand patients' and families' experience of treatment and care. 

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Professor Surr said: 'Cancer and dementia are conditions that affect many older people and the little research we have suggests many may have both conditions. However, we don’t currently have any accurate figures on the size of the population or their experiences.

Inform future research

'What research we do have suggests people who have dementia, as well as cancer, have much worse outcomes in terms of diagnosis, treatment and survival than people who have cancer but not dementia. Therefore, our study is urgently needed to inform research in this area and to identify immediate ways services might be improved.'

The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) research for patient benefit programme.

The team from Leeds Beckett will collaborate with experts from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham City University.

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