RAPID-RT / Information for participants

Would you like to be involved in our research?

We need patients, carers and members of the public to help us shape and participate in our research programme. If you would like to get involved there are a number of ways you can join in.

Please contact us at rapid-rt@manchester.ac.uk if you would like to be involved.

Current opportunities

Focus group on when should a change to radiotherapy treatments be measured using rapid-learning?

Year 3-4, January 2025

The aim of these focus groups is to ask patients, their supporters, and the public, when they think it is acceptable to use patients’ data in a process known as ‘Rapid Learning’ to measure how effective changes to medical treatments have been.

The results from this research will be published and used to inform our research further.

What is Rapid-Learning and why is it useful?

When doctors think a change would improve a treatment, they will change the treatment all patients receive from that date onwards.  However, the effect of these changes is not always easy to measure.  When changes are made to treatments for all patients, rapid Learning could be used to compare the old treatment with the new treatment. It does this by using data that is already collected during routine care about patient outcomes, such as side effects and survival rates.

Measuring the effect of the change in this way, can help to prove whether changes made to treatments have actually improved outcomes for more patients.  This can help doctors decide what other changes would improve the treatment further.  It can also be used to show other hospitals what changes they should make to treatments for their patients.

In the focus groups we will explain what Rapid Learning is and how it could be used to improve radiotherapy treatments.  We would love to hear your views on:

  • Whether you think this is acceptable?
  • How you think we should talk to patients about their data being used in this way?

You don’t need any previous experience of health research to take part, just be happy to learn about radiotherapy and share your views.

We are looking for:

  • People who have received radiotherapy as part of their cancer treatment
  • People who have supported a friend or family member receiving radiotherapy during their cancer treatment
  • The general public with an interest in improving healthcare

You will be invited to take part in one of three focus group sessions, which will take place in central Manchester at:

Tuesday 14th January 2025

Tuesday 21st January 2025

Tuesday 28th January 2025

The session will be in-person and you will receive a £75 love-to-shop voucher to reimburse you for your time.

We are committed to making our opportunities as inclusive and accessible as possible. If there is anything that we can do to enable you to take part, please let us know.

If you are interested in finding out more, please register your interest.

Or please get in touch by emailing the research team at rapid-rt@manchester.ac.uk

We’ll aim to get back to you ASAP with more information and discuss your interest in the opportunity. Please note that our team are taking a well-earned break over the Christmas period (20th December – 6th January).

Further information for participants can be found here:

Please expand the following sections if you’d like to see how we are engaging patients and members of the public in our research.

RAPID-RT: a study using patients' routine data to improve care

Year 2-5, 2023-2027

Anonymised data from all Christie patients with stage 1 to 3 lung cancer who receive curative-intent radiotherapy during the study period are eligible for inclusion in the RAPID-RT data study. All these patients will have received a radiotherapy that has been targeted to reduce the chance of damage to the heart while maximising damage to the cancer. We hope this change will improve survival of our patients.

Participant information, including information on the opt-out process, is available at the top of this page. 

Since opening recruitment in April 2023, over 750 patients (as of November 2024) have contributed their data to the RAPID-RT study. We have developed a method to compare patient outcomes pre- and post- the introduction of heart-sparing radiotherapy and we hope to be able to share our results soon on whether this change in treatment has increased patient survival.

The participant information sheet for this study can be found here: 

Interviews with patients and their supporters enrolled on the RAPID-RT data study

Year 2, 2023

We will interview a small number of patients and theirsupporters eligible for inclusion in the RAPID-RT data study and ask their views on their experience of the study.

In particular, we want to understand patients’ experiences and the effectiveness of the opt-out process, both at the time of treatment and six months later.

We have now completed all first round interviews and are in the process of speaking to our participants six months later. Results will be shared soon.

Information for participants can be found here:

Delphi study on the usefulness of the EQ-5D for radiotherapy patients

Year 2, 2023

We will invite patients with experience of radiotherapy to participate in a survey to explore how well the EQ-5D-5 questionnaire (patient reported outcome measures) captures the impact of having radiotherapy.

Round 1 of the survey has now closed and we will be in contact with all those who participated with round 2 and round 3 soon. 

View a full timeline of the project.

The University of Manchester