Working in Partnership

Investigating and explaining contemporary patterns and trends in inequalities across the head and neck cancer pathway

This project, in conjunction with Oracle Cancer Trust aims to understand the roles of deprivation and region that contribute to inequalities across head and neck cancers.

Head and neck cancer includes cancers of the mouth, throat and voice box. These cancers are common in people who smoke and drink excessive alcohol. They particularly affect people living in more deprived areas and the North, including North West England and North Wales.

In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, 20% fewer head and neck cancers were diagnosed in North England. This drop was not seen in other areas, which may mean that inequalities in head and neck cancer are now even bigger than they were before the pandemic.

The project aims to work out how to reduce these inequalities by firstly bringing up-to-date information from national databases to assess new numbers of head and neck cancers, how early cancers were at diagnosis and how they were treated.

Demographical information will be used to compare deprived and affluent patients, as well as comparing data from before and during the pandemic.

The team will work alongside patients, charities and healthcare professionals to produce suggestions in order to reduce inequalities and make the results freely available for future research and healthcare.