HORIZONS

Macmillan Survivorship Research Group’s new research project HORIZONS: a cohort study to explore recovery of health and wellbeing in adults diagnosed with cancer, is now open to recruitment. The Macmillan HORIZONS Programme sets out to improve the lives of people affected by cancer by building understanding of the cancer survivorship population and providing a depth of evidence not available through other research.

HORIZONS will recruit 3,000 cancer patients at the point of diagnosis, and follow them up using a questionnaire survey throughout their treatment and beyond, for up to five years. The research will explore recovery from cancer treatment and self-management of the consequences of cancer. The study currently recruits breast cancer patients diagnosed under 50 years old, gynaecological cancer patients and those with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

HORIZONS is currently open to recruitment in three pilot sites; University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with set up well underway at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. Later this year recruitment will be rolled out to a further 15 NHS secondary care Trusts across the UK, with more sites to be identified for early 2017 to cover a wide range of geographical locations and ethnically and socio-demographically diverse populations.

The study is funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and Sponsored by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.