medwireNews: Oncologists from the UK have jointly launched the UK Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project to collate data on cancer patients who acquire COVID-19.
As explained on the website, the project is a clinician-led initiative aiming “to ensure adequate cancer care is being delivered where required across the country and to assess the impact on cancer patients.”
The joint leaders of the project are Lennard Lee and Gary Middleton, both from University Hospitals Birmingham, and Rachel Kerr, from Oxford University Hospitals.
Cancer centers across the UK can submit information on cases, with the data stored in an anonymized fashion on a central platform hosted by The Institute of Translational Medicine at the University of Birmingham. Reporting from the project will begin once there are sufficient cases to ensure that patient confidentiality is not breached accidentally.
“I want to ensure that cancer patients are protected and identified if and when they contract coronavirus,” said Lee in a press release.
“How the UK responds to and protects its most vulnerable in a time of great need is how generations to come will judge us,” he continued.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2020 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group
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