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Increasing Access to Blood Cancer Trials in Northern Ireland
Increasing access to blood cancer trials in Northern Ireland is a partnership project is funded by a Blood Cancer UK grant, to explore NI challenges and barriers to trial access and drive change through new data, patients and carers and healthcare professional voices and community outreach.
The number of blood cancer patients taking part in clinical trials in NI has significantly reduced compared to the pre-covid era. Sometimes patients in NI must travel to a distant centre in NI or Great Britain for their treatment/trial.
This professional and patient partnership project of 3 parts, aims to increase access to cancer trials in NI through:
- generating new knowledge about equality of access to blood cancer trials in NI through cancer registry data analysis
- a service evaluation of patient and carer experience including exploration of challenges related to clinical trials, including travel. Stakeholder engagement activity generating/implementing actions to increase inclusive access to cancer trials
- a programme of arts and conversation outreach activities across a range of communities and settings to raise awareness of blood cancers, clinical trials and the role of the patient advocate
The project aims to bring benefit to blood cancer patients through increased trial options and actions that address barriers by making clinical trials more patient-focused and inclusive. A further legacy of the project is through collaborative working, outreach and the positive impact more clinical trial delivery will have on professional and patient communities.
Bridging the gap and shaping inclusive trial access in Northern Ireland.
Read more about our project on the Blood Cancer UK website. Click here:
Arts with a Side of Conversation Project
Arts with a Side of Conversation is a community outreach project delivered with Beth McComish, Belfast Trust Artist in Residence, supported by Arts Care. See Cancer Trials NI website for regular updates on our community and public outreach work to promote inclusion and equity of access to clinical trials and treatment for NI patients. Summer 2026 will be a season of public outreach for Northern Ireland Cancer Clinical Trials Network, Northern Ireland Cancer Research Consumer Forum and Belfast ECMC with visits to Grand Central Station, PRIDE Village and Mela Festival to share our Arts with a Side of Conversation activities.
Stakeholder Event
On 10th June 2026 the project team hosted a stakeholder event in the Johnston Cancer Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), bringing together key people and organisations providing services to patients and carers with experience of blood cancers. The event was opened by Dr Sarah Lawless from the Haematology Service in Belfast Trust, followed by presentations from Ruth Boyd, Deputy Director of Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network, Dr Damien Bennett from the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry and Professor Olinda Santin, School of Nursing and Midwifery, QUB. The aim was to share data and findings from the project to date. Mr David Hetherington, a blood cancer trial patient spoke about both the challenges and the benefits patients and carers face when accessing cancer trials in Northern Ireland. Bronagh Scott gave her thoughts on the need to open more trials for blood cancer patients in Northern Ireland so they don’t have to travel to elsewhere to benefit from new treatments. Discussion groups followed the presentations and provided a platform to review the findings reported. All present had an opportunity to reflect, discuss and agree next steps to improving trial access and services for patients with blood cancers in Northern Ireland.
Key service improvement recommendations:
- Provide more trials in Northern Ireland
- Provide patients with feedback and progress on trial outcomes
- Improve nutritional support for blood cancer patients in hospital
- Improve waiting times for cancer patients attending clinic setting
- Improve support for patients and their carers travelling to England
View the report from patient and carer focus groups held in March 2026: A Service Evaluation of Patient Experience of Clinical Trials in Blood Cancer