How is cancer care best provided to patients in English prisons? Assessing the disease burden in the prison population, experiences of diagnosis, treatment and support and of receiving and providing cancer care.
There is increasing public and policy interest in how prison healthcare can be better organised to detect and treat illness effectively and help patients improve their health as part of rehabilitation. Little work has focused on non-communicable diseases such as cancer that are increasingly affecting ageing populations. Cancer is common in the general population, but accurate information on its diagnosis in people in prison and their experiences of care is sparse. The purpose of the study is to assess equity and access to care, inform cancer and prison healthcare policy and develop priorities for improving models and pathways of care for the prison population.
This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research.