Andrea Wadeson with a research poster about a previous project

Study will focus on brain tumour patients’ working lives

Five Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) colleagues have been awarded MAHSC Neuroscience Clinical Fellowships to develop their research.

Among them is Specialist Nurse for skull base tumours Andrea Wadeson, who will use her 18-month fellowship to study how a type of brain tumour called vestibular schwannoma affects patients’ working lives and explore what can be done to support them. She will also work on a master’s degree in clinical research.

Vestibular schwannoma (VS) – also known as acoustic neuroma – develop on the main nerve leading from the inner ear to the brain. They are non-cancerous but can cause neurological problems and lifelong disabilities, including hearing loss, tinnitus, imbalance, facial palsy, mental fatigue, anxiety and low mood, and memory problems.

Salford Royal is the largest centre in the country for the treatment of VS and its expert team are also part of the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, a partnership between NCA, The University of Manchester and MAHSC.

Support group

Andrea runs a popular support group for VS patients and has previously completed a pilot study, funded by the British Acoustic Neuroma Association, which highlighted difficulties they faced at work.

She explained: “We found that within our support group, 68 per cent of people reported their VS symptoms had an impact on their working lives. Some had to cut their hours and others retired early.

“During my fellowship, I will be exploring the issues with a larger group of patients, not just those who come to support groups. My research aims to develop a better understanding of the issues and look at how we can address the difficulties, through different therapies, workplace adjustments and counselling.”

CCR guidance

Her fellowship will begin in May 2025 and she hopes to survey 200-300 patients who are treated at Salford.

Andrea was supported by NCA’s Centre for Clinical and Care Research in her application for the fellowship and says their mentorship and guidance was hugely helpful. In particular, completing the CCR’s advanced practitioner training helped her to understand the process and she has also benefited from one-to-one mentoring in developing her research ambitions.

Physiotherapist Lauren Lucas, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist Jacki Bambrough and Neurologist Dr Katherine Dodd also have new 18-month Fellowships while stroke Consultant Dr Amit Kishore has had his existing Fellowship extended for a year.

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