Marie Curie makes £1 million available for research proposals to improve end of life care

Marie Curie Cancer Care has made £1 million available to fund palliative and end of life care research which aims to improve care for people with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses in the last year of life.

The funding, which has been made available through the annual Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme, was announced at the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Liverpool.

This is the fourth call from the Research Programme and applications are invited on research proposals across five themes:

• Symptom control in the last year of life – There is a lack of research evidence on the effectiveness of symptom control treatments for patients at the end of life. Marie Curie is inviting research proposals to address this gap in research evidence. Proposals are invited in particular from studies that address gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms, fatigue and weight loss as well as psychological symptoms such as anxiety and delirium.
• Using existing knowledge to improve end of life care – one barrier preventing patients and carers immediately benefitting from end of life care research is difficulties translating and implementing existing research findings into clinical practice and health policy. Marie Curie is looking for projects that have the potential to result in direct benefit to patients, carers and families within the lifetime of the project or shortly after. Proposals should include a clear strategy on how success of the implementation strategy will be measured and how it could be translated into other settings.
• Impact of palliative care day services on quality of life of patients, carers and families There is a lack of good quality quantitative evidence on the impact of palliative care day services on patients’ quality of life or how cost-effective services are. Anecdotal evidence hints at the importance of these services for patients, but commissioners are looking for clearer and more comparable evidence of their effect on well being and quality of life. Proposals should take into account relevant knowledge from day services research in other fields eg: dementia, gerontology and health services research.
• Facilitating timely hospital discharge of people who wish to die in their preferred place of care The majority of people at end of life want to die at home but in reality, most people still die in hospital. One of the challenges in discharging people from hospital to die in their preferred place of care is the delay to arranging the appropriate home care crucial for people to remain in their place of choice. Marie Curie would like to invite research projects that address this problem by identifying and overcoming barriers to timely discharge this might include looking at the role of integrated social care services or patient decision making in arranging care at home.
• Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) Marie Curie recognises that there are only limited funding opportunities for researchers in palliative and end of life care research to move up successful feasibility studies to full RCTs. Marie Curie would like to fill that gap by offering funding for an RCT based on published successful feasibility studies in any area of palliative and end of life care relevant to patients in the last year of life and their carers and families. Proposals will only be considered if they are supported by a Clinical Trials Unit and the project confirmed as within remit by Marie Curie. Funding available is likely to be one grant of up to £450k but Marie Curie will also consider much smaller bids for RCT development grants to set up and coordinate complex trials.

Dr Teresa Tate, Medical Advisor to Marie Curie Cancer Care, said: "This call is about bridging the research knowledge gaps that exist in palliative and end of life care. All of the research themes share that common goal, along with improving end of life care of patients, carers and families.

"We know from our work at Marie Curie that there is lots to be done in removing barriers that prevent people from accessing good end of life care, when and where they need it. Several of the themes touch on this, including facilitating timely discharge from hospital to preferred place of care and the impact of palliative care day services.

"We look forward to receiving applications and funding research projects that will benefit patients, carers and families at a time when they need it most."

Proposals will be accepted from academic institutions across the UK and funding is provided for grants for up to a maximum of three years. Applications can be made online at: www.cancerresearchuk.org/marie-curie-research-programme and must be submitted in full by April 5, 2013, with funding decisions expected by October 2013 and funds available from January 1, 2014. The time required to obtain ethical approval should be taken into account when estimating a project’s start date.

The independent Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme Funding Committee has given feedback on how to avoid common mistakes in proposals based on their experience from the first two research calls. This is available online at www.mariecurie.org.uk/researchprogramme.

Marie Curie launched the Research Programme in 2010, committing up to £1 million of academic research funding annually. The process for application and review is being administered by Cancer Research UK. For details of grants currently funded by the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme, please see: www.mariecurie.org.uk/researchprogramme

To discuss whether your project is within the remit of the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme, please contact: Dr Sabine Best on 020 7091 4144 or sabine.best@mariecurie.org.uk If you have administrative queries about applying to the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme, please contact: Dr Andrew Clempson on 020 3469 5334 or mariecurie@cancer.org.uk.