Call for help: COBELT - CO-DESIGN OF A BIORESOURCE AND EARLY-DETECTION LUNG CANCER TEST

Please see below a message from St Andrews University who are keen to gather Community Pharmacy views on a new lung cancer test:  

Success stories of engaging with hard-to-reach patients? A drop-in clinic or appointment-based? What would your service need to feel comfortable providing an early-detection blood test?  

 Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the UK. Early detection can help improve chances of successful treatment.  We are looking at the role of a blood test to help reach at-risk people in areas of high deprivation in a future lung screening service.  

You may have contributed to the first phase of this study, where we identified potential pathways for delivery, as well as barriers and facilitators from both public and professionals’ perspectives.  

 Now we would like your and your colleagues’ help with the next stage - what could we do to help mitigate these barriers? 

 There are two ways to contribute 

1. Through an interactive forum, where we have posed questions for discussion. You can see, like and respond to one another’s’ comments. This will take approx. 20 minutes, but please spend as little or as much time as you wish. You can skip questions if necessary. Please do sign in, so we can see in what role you respond to the questions, as we are inviting different services to comment. To sign in, simply go to the link and click on the “sign up” button in the top right-hand corner. You can choose a pseudonymised name if you prefer.  Link to Padlet here 
2. Alternatively, you can complete the same questions in an anonymous survey here. This does not allow for discussion.   

 For more information about the study please read the participant information sheet here.  

To access the Padlet click here. You will also find the identified pathways and brief instructions on how to use the forum.  

If you have any questions at all, please email cobelt@st-andrews.ac.uk

Drug Death Taskforce Research Fund - “Feasibility and acceptability of an overdose prevention intervention delivered by Community Pharmacies for patients prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain”

Please see below a communication regarding a research project which will hope to enlist the participation of some Community Pharmacies in Fife:

"Dr Rebecca Foster, of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling and a research team which includes Debs Steven, Lead Pain Pharmacist, NHS Fife, have been successful in a bid for funding from the Drug Death Taskforce Research Fund for a study entitled “Feasibility and acceptability of an overdose prevention intervention delivered by Community Pharmacies for patients prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain”

The study builds on previous work carried out by the team in 2019,in Fife, which found that this group of patients was at increased risk of overdose due to high levels of co-morbidities and co-prescribing.

The team propose to undertake this next study within Community Pharmacy in Fife, building on the successful introduction of the take home naloxone intervention for the illicit drug use population. The study will explore the feasibility of a nasal take home naloxone package supplied via community pharmacy for the chronic non cancer pain population prescribed opioids.

More details will follow. In the meantime if you have any questions or a particular interest in being involved please contact deborah.steven@nhs.scot