You have been asked to take part in this study because you have visited your GP with symptoms that we are interested in. This will help us develop a way for minimising unnecessary examinations for low risk people and develop a speedy diagnosis for high risk people. You will be one of 20,000 people with lung and bowel symptoms asked to take part in this research.
The majority of patients who come to their doctor with lung symptoms (for example a cough) or bowel symptoms (for example, loose stool) do not have anything seriously wrong with them. However, a very few people are at risk of cancer. We would like to help doctors diagnose cancer quickly so that potential high risk patients are detected sooner and unnecessary examinations are minimised for those patients that are low risk. This research is about finding what symptoms and examinations are best for predicting lung and bowel cancer.
This research is being sponsored and co-ordinated by the University of Southampton in collaboration with other leading Universities throughout the country (Universities of Bristol, Manchester, Oxford, London, Nottingham, Birmingham and Keele). It is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National School of Primary Care Research (NSPCR) and has been approved by the South Central Oxford A. Research Ethics Committee (REC). Your local NHS Trust Research and Development department have also reviewed it and has given their permission for it to be carried out in your area.