A young medic from Skipton is to investigate whether living in a rural area, far away from a major hospital, might affect the chances of a cancer patient's survival.

Andrew Gill, of Stirtonber, Skipton, has been awarded a special grant from The Cancer Research Campaign and will spend the next 10 weeks on the project.

The 24-year-old, who is currently in his fourth year of medicine at the University of Leeds, will travel to Auckland, New Zealand, tomorrow where he will be based at the Professional Surgery Unit in the School of Medicine. From there Andrew's research will be undertaken specifically in wards and clinics where patients are being treated for upper gastrointestinal cancer.

The former Ermysted's Grammar School pupil will use data which already exists in the form of a cancer registry and add to the data by interviewing a selection of patients.

"This project has worldwide relevance since many patients have to travel great distances to receive their diagnosis, let alone treatment for cancer," he said.

"These distances may affect the prognosis of such patients, especially those who are diagnosed when their cancer is at a more advanced stage.

"Indeed, such patients may be unable to travel to specialist centres for treatment and so the success of any treatment may be reduced."

Andrew has also been helped on his travels by Airedale NHS Trust, which runs Airedale Hospital in Steeton. It has provided a grant of £750 which will pay for his air fare. When he returns Andrew hopes to continue his work by undertaking a study closer to home, with the help of Airedale Hospital, which serves a mainly rural community.

In the UK more than 20 per cent of the population live in rural areas yet the only information which compares rural and urban patterns of cancer survival comes from a study carried out in the Highlands of Scotland.

Andrew hopes to compare his data from New Zealand with data gathered from patients in the Yorkshire Dales, many of whom have to travel extreme distances to hospital.