The Hope Cancer Trials Centre (formerly known as the Hope Clinical Trials Facility) has a mission to deliver excellence in cancer research.
The Hope Cancer Trials Centre is an internationally renowned trials unit, dedicated to developing and delivering the most advanced therapies and techniques to its patients. We have an international reputation for recruiting patients to studies and are often selected by pharmaceutical companies as a preferred site for conducting their research. Cancer treatments are rapidly changing and the Hope Cancer Trials Centre is at the forefront of testing the most cutting-edge treatments in the world.
Supported by the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC), Leicester is part of only a small network of UK centres specialising in early phase clinical studies and this activity is delivered at the Hope Centre.
The Centre was first opened in 2012 and contains a dedicated space exclusively for patients participating in clinical research studies. We host a devoted research team of 46 staff across University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, with expertise across a diverse range of disease areas within cancer. We are very dynamic and have approximately 100 different trials open and recruiting patients at any one time.
Our Centre is a partnership between the local Leicestershire and Rutland cancer charity Hope Against Cancer, the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and the University of Leicester. In 2020, thanks to fundraising by supporters of Hope Against Cancer, the capacity of our Centre was doubled.
This extension has provided a more streamlined service for both patients and staff. It has allowed us to expand our clinical trial portfolio and conduct more cancer trials at Leicester, providing even more access to potential ground-breaking treatments for patients which are not currently available on the NHS.
The expanded facility now contains more clinical space including:
- More beds for patient overnight stays
- 12 state of the art chemotherapy chairs for patient comfort during treatment
- New medical equipment to assist in patient care
- Blood processing facility room
- Drug storage and preparation area
- 2 private consulting rooms
- A waiting area for friends and relatives
- Refreshment area, providing tea, coffee and light refreshments to patients and carers
- Improved patient area to feel more welcoming and relaxing
It also has increased administrative facilities including:
- A new administration office, containing 26 desks, an integrated private office for the management team (containing 5 desks), and secure document storage areas to retain patient confidentiality at all times
- A separate newly refurbished administrative office dedicated to the set-up of new research studies to be run at the Centre. The office also houses a cancer-specific pharmacy, radiotherapy and quality assurance team
- Updated technology to increase the output of administrative teams
Patient feedback of the team:
“Amazing cutting edge care from talented people. Care the NHS should be proud of - all the staff are first class, I can’t praise them enough”
Our Hope Cancer Trials Centre also has an active Patient and Carers Advisory Group (PCAG), to help the team consider patients’ perspectives on their experiences of taking part in research, to influence how research is planned and carried out and improve the uptake of research. The patient and carers advisory group meets four times a year, and involves patients, their relatives, clinicians and researchers.
For more information, contact lydianne.lock@uhl-tr.nhs.uk via email or telephone 0116 2586318.
