UK consensus guidelines on the dosing of Folinic Acid
Help shape a study
The project
Folinic acid has periods of shortage. A standard dose may help to reduce those shortages and agreement on how to handle shortages is needed. The UK Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy Board (UK SACT Board) have identified there is variation and have requested the study to standardise the dose.
Calum Polwart, a consultant oncology pharmacist and Conor O’Neil, a clinical fellow, plan to undertake a project to agree a standard dose.
What are they going to do?
A Modified Delphi Consensus Study is an online questionnaire that aims to agree some consensus statements which all centres can follow. The study will involve UK clinicians treating upper and lower gastrointestinal cancers.
Why is this research important?
Calum and Conor hope that standardising practice will reduce variability for patients, minimise the risk of shortages and improve efficiency of delivering treatment on chemotherapy units. They also expect to agree some guidance on how to handle any shortages in the future.
How to get involved
The study will be a study of UK clinicians (Oncologists, Pharmacists and Nurses) with expertise in upper and lower gastrointestinal cancers. The Delphi process will be overseen by a Steering Committee who will be responsible for ensuring the process is undertaken to plan, and finalising its outcome.
Calum and Conor are seeking a single person affected by pancreatic cancer to join the steering committee (timescales not yet finalised, however first meeting likely during 2025). The person they are seeking does not need to have any expertise in the dosing of chemotherapy. They are also seeking a similarly minded person affected by bowel cancer.
They anticipate 2 initial online meetings of a steering group who will draft and agree a protocol. The study would then be run and the Steering Group would re-assemble when the study has reached its pre-determined endpoint. The steering group will oversee the publication of the results through the UK SACT Board.
The aim of seeking lived experience involvement is to ensure they have considered how any changes they might propose might be perceived by patients and their loved ones and to remember at all times patients are at the heart of what they do.
It is anticipated the Steering group might meet a maximum of 4 times, with some occasional email discussion at other times. During publication, there may be some more intense email discussion around editing the final text, but it would be entirely optional how much involvement any steering committee member wished to have in the final publication.
No scientific background or prior experience is needed to take part in this opportunity.
Next steps
If you are interested in joining the steering committee or would like more information, please email Calum Polwart (calum.polwart@nhs.net) quoting the involvement reference ‘RIN Patient group’.
