Safeguarding cancer research funding by European charities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected cancer research and cancer care. European cancer charities need to reconsider strategies for safeguarding income and supporting cancer researchers, in times when sustaining cancer research funding is more crucial than ever.

Communities as 'renewable energy' for healthcare services? a multimethods study into the form, scale and role of voluntary support for community hospitals in England.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the forms, scale and role of community and voluntary support for community hospitals in England. DESIGN: A multimethods study. Quantitative analysis of Charity Commission data on levels of volunteering and voluntary income for charities supporting community hospitals. Nine qualitative case studies of community hospitals and their surrounding communities, including interviews and focus groups. SETTING: Community hospitals in England and their surrounding communities. PARTICIPANTS: Charity Commission data for 245 community hospital Leagues of Friends. Interviews with staff (89), patients (60), carers (28), volunteers (35), community representatives (20), managers and commissioners (9). Focus groups with multidisciplinary teams (8 groups across nine sites, involving 43 respondents), volunteers (6 groups, 33 respondents) and community stakeholders (8 groups, 54 respondents). RESULTS: Communities support community hospitals through: human resources (average=24 volunteers a year per hospital); financial resources (median voluntary income = £15 632); practical resources through services and activities provided by voluntary and community groups; and intellectual resources (eg, consultation and coproduction). Communities provide valuable supplementary resources to the National Health Service, enhancing community hospital services, patient experience, staff morale and volunteer well-being. Such resources, however, vary in level and form from hospital to hospital and over time: voluntary income is on the decline, as is membership of League of Friends, and it can be hard to recruit regular, active volunteers. CONCLUSIONS: Communities can be a significant resource for healthcare services, in ways which can enhance patient experience and service quality. Harnessing that resource, however, is not straight forward and there is a perception that it might be becoming more difficult questioning the extent to which it can be considered sustainable or 'renewable'.

Walking and running to benefit breast cancer: descriptive characteristics of participants in the 2017 Walk for Life events.

AIMS: The prevalence of charities and other non-profit organisations sponsoring for-cause physical activity (PA) events has continued to rise. Few studies have examined for-cause events through a public health perspective to determine the reach and potential for public health and PA promotion. This study described participants in a for-cause event supporting breast cancer to determine the reach of the event and identified possible leverage points of for-cause events for public health promotion. METHODS: Participants registered online for the Walk for Life events in Columbia, SC (Half marathon, 10k, 5k, and Walk-a-thon), were included in this study. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: Over 6,000 people participated in the event and 4,942 registered online. Of online registrants, most participants were women (n = 3,800, 78.95%) and most participants, completed the walk-a-thon (n = 3,539), followed by the 5k (n = 829), half-marathon (n = 236), and 10k (n = 209). The average age of participants was 39.79 years (SD = 1.35). CONCLUSIONS: For-cause PA events often recruit high numbers of participants, particularly high-priority populations in PA interventions. Therefore, these events bear innovative implications for PA researchers and practitioners to leverage these events to promote health and PA while simultaneously supporting charity and non-profit organisations.

Innovate Global Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: Cleft Lip and Palate Charity Database.

BACKGROUND: There is an emerging interest in global surgery. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery recognizes the important role that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play in the delivery of cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) surgical care. To better address the unmet burden of surgical disease, the commissioners propose the use of a centralized registry to maximize coordination of global surgical volunteerism efforts. This study aims to create a comprehensive database of CLP organizations. METHODS: A systematic search of the following resources was conducted: The Plastic Surgery Foundation, Smile Train, Wikipedia, Google, and lists of surgical NGOs. A secondary review of each organization's website was performed to verify inclusion criteria and to extract data. Organizations were classified as providing surgical or nonsurgical care. RESULTS: Thirty-one organizations providing CLP care were reviewed, with 30 that met inclusion criteria. Of the 20 surgical NGOs, 50% use a diagonal approach of international outreach, 40% a vertical one-way approach, and 10% a horizontal approach. All 10 of the nonsurgical NGOs provide care through a horizontal approach. Their offices are distributed across North America (43%), Asia (27%), Europe (23%), and Australia (7%). Forty-three percent of the organizations provide CLP surgeries or services in more than 1 country; 93% do so with a multidisciplinary team. A majority of the organizations established collaborations with host institutions (80%). CONCLUSION: To the authors' best knowledge, this database includes the largest collection of CLP organizations. This list will be made publicly available to inform surgical care planning, facilitate collaboration, and promote further research.

The Movember Foundation's GAP3 cohort: a profile of the largest global prostate cancer active surveillance database to date.

OBJECTIVES: The Movember Foundation launched the Global Action Plan Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance (GAP3) initiative to create a global consensus on the selection and monitoring of men with low-risk prostate cancer (PCa) on active surveillance (AS). The aim of this study is to present data on inclusion and follow-up for AS in this unique global AS database. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 2014 and 2016, the database was created by combining patient data from 25 established AS cohorts worldwide (USA, Canada, Australasia, UK and Europe). Data on a total of 15 101 patients were included. Descriptive statistics were used to report patients' clinical and demographic characteristics at the time of PCa diagnosis, clinical follow-up, discontinuation of AS and subsequent treatment. Cumulative incidence curves were used to report discontinuation rates over time. RESULTS: At diagnosis, the median (interquartile range [IQR]) patient age was 65 (60-70) years and the median prostate-specific antigen level was 5.4 (4.0-7.3) ng/mL. Most patients had clinical stage T1 disease (71.8%), a biopsy Gleason score of 6 (88.8%) and one tumour-positive biopsy core (60.3%). Patients on AS had a median follow-up time of 2.2 (1.0-5.0) years. After 5, 10 and 15 years of follow-up, respectively, 58%, 39% and 23% of patients were still on AS. The current version of GAP3 has limited data on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), quality of life and genomic testing. CONCLUSIONS: GAP3 is the largest worldwide collaboration integrating patient data from men with PCa on AS. The results will allow individual patients and clinicians to have greater confidence in the personalized decision to either delay or proceed with active treatment. Longer follow-up and the evaluation of MRI, new genomic markers and patient-related outcomes will result in even more valuable data and eventually in better patient outcomes.

Environmental scan of cystic fibrosis research worldwide.

BACKGROUND: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare fatal genetic disease, affecting 70,000 to 100,000 people worldwide [1]. Numerous countries have specific charitable organizations dedicated to CF, with many funding research to find a cure or effective control for the disease. Cystic Fibrosis Canada, the largest charity in Canada dedicated to funding research and care in CF, conducted an environmental scan of these organizations to learn and better understand their research goals and funding process. METHODS: A set of questions was sent to 25 CF charitable organizations around the world by email. Responses were consolidated to identify common practices and innovative approaches. RESULTS: Among respondents, there were variations in the amount of funds invested in research annually and the number of studies supported. Common themes identified included practicing an open call for research applications, evaluating applications using a peer review process, and placing an increased emphasis on patient engagement. Innovative approaches included funding one larger project; funding a series of sub-projects on a common theme; partially funding a research project; and, indefinitely funding part of a researcher's salary. CONCLUSIONS: Among CF charitable organizations, there are numerous approaches to research funding. Both similarities and differences were noted between these organizations, all of which share the common goal of working towards improving quality of life and survival for people with CF.

Successful partnerships with third sector organisations to enhance the healthcare student experience: a partnership evaluation.

There is limited research surrounding academic partnerships and more research is needed to educate universities, and the private, public and third sectors about the benefits and limitations of such partnerships. The aim of this study was to outline the unique partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support and De Montfort University and to evaluate the progress of this partnership. A qualitative approach was employed which involved interviews with nine members of the partnership's steering group. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that a partnership between a university and a third sector charity can have mutual benefits for all those involved, particularly for students and those affected by cancer. Furthermore, the module to develop volunteering among families affected cancer, created through this partnership is now being considered by other universities as a way of providing holistic and non-traditional lecture based learning experiences. Recommendations are made for future partnerships between third sector charities and universities.

What do families, staff, and stakeholders think about children's dream fulfilment?

BACKGROUND: This article reports the results of a service evaluation designed to assess children's dream fulfillment charity, Dreams Come True. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: With the objective to gain the opinions of those who have used and are involved with the charity, parents (n=10), staff (n=10), and key informants (n=18) were asked what the charity does most and least well. METHOD: Focus group meetings using the nominal group technique were held for parents and staff and an email survey was sent to key informants. RESULTS: Conclusions, in the form of voted responses to the question of what the charity does most and least well are presented. CONCLUSIONS: Popular themes arising from each group were the benefit of dreams, the importance of empathy, staff communication, and fundraising. Implications for the charity and third sector are discussed.

Surgical mission planning in the developing world.

Surgical missions to the developing world have been criticized for their lack of outcome analysis. Reported studies indicate a high rate of postoperative complications. An integrated pathway developed for surgical missions and a report of its performance in action is presented herein. Patients were optimized for surgery by a medical team from the UK for a minimum of 14 days preoperatively. They were then transferred to hospital for surgery and returned when stable. At the completion of the mission a junior doctor remained behind for 3 weeks to chart the patients' progress. Thirty case patients were treated over a 2-week period. The complication rate at 3 weeks postoperatively was 7/30. Twenty-two operations were classified as complex (over 1h with more than one flap) and eight as simple (under 1h with minimal flaps). Of those undergoing the simple operations, 2/8 encountered complications at an average of 5 days postoperatively (range 3-7 days). Many medical teams depart in an elevated atmosphere of accomplishment, which without an outcome analysis gives a false impression of their positive impact. Outcome analysis is essential to honestly appraise the effect of surgical missions.