Background:
Participation rates in clinical trials for regional patients are below the 10% Cancer Institute of NSW (CINSW) target. Until September 2014, Central West Cancer Care Centre (CWCCC) lacked a clinical trials centre (CTC). A fulltime clinical trials coordinator started in September 2014 using CINSW funding. To exepdite the growth of the CTC we engaged a locally based cancer charity, Cancer Care Western NSW (CCW)
Methods:
The executive members within the CCW were approached and a series of presentations were delivered that outlined how clinical trials improve individual and population-wide cancer care. We developed a formula that enabled donors to understand how many new patients could be enrolled onto a trial with their donated dollars.
CCW pledged seed funding to support and grow the CTC until pharmaceutical funded trials could be secured. CCW developed a marketing and media plan to and to explain in lay language the value of clinical trials. Communities were approached primarily through engaging the Rotary and Lions clubs. Targeted information seminars were then delivered to these communities. Existing charity initiatives (e.g. Western NSW Just Cruising Car Rally) were approached to redirect their annual fundraising efforts.
Results:
From March 2015 until September 2015, $150,000 of the pledged $300,000 was raised. This funding has enabled the appointment of a 0.6 full time equivalent (FTE) clinical trials manager and a 0.6 FTE research nurse in Sep 2015. We expect this will enable us to open a further 10 clinical trials and enroll a further 70 patients.
Conclusions:
We successfully implemented a fundraising model that has expanded the capacity of a regional CTC. We achieved this by engaging key community leaders and locally based charities that understood the critical role clinical trials play in cancer care. This model could be adopted by other regional centres to establish or grow regional CTCs.