IHDP was actively involved in the strategic and operational delivery of the Cancer Innovation Challenge (CIC). Image The Cancer Innovation Challenge (CIC) was a £1M project funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and delivered through three of Scotland’s Innovation Centres. The Data Lab led the project in collaboration with the Digital Health & Care Institute and Precision Medicine Scotland. Project support was also provided by IHDP, NHS NSS, University of Edinburgh, University of Stirling and the Health & Social Care Alliance. Activities for the project centered around two key workstreams: New approaches and tools to record and integrate patient reported data into routine cancer care Innovative data science solutions to improve cancer care and outcomes Each workstream resulted in eight collaborative projects between private companies, the NHS and universities, through two Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) funding competitions. Eight projects received funding for Phase 1 development. Three of those proceeded to receive further Phase 2 funding and continue to develop and test their innovation. New approaches to record and integrate patient reported data into routine cancer care In 2018, two projects (from the initial 5 Phase 1 funded projects) received Phase 2 funding for further development and evaluation in pilot NHS Scotland Territorial Health Boards (NHS Lothian and NHS Ayrshire & Arran). They are now being trialled in other regions: OWise for Scotland is a mobile app developed by PxHealthcare that lets breast cancer patients track the side effects of their treatment and is integrated into TrakCare at NHS Lothian as a result of its work for the CIC. Having currently moved into working with prostate cancer, it is expected to become available for other types of cancer in 2020. My Clinical Outcomes is a web-based solution. Development started out for orthopaedics and, through the CIC, it is now customised for patients with blood cancer. In NHS Ayrshire & Arran, patients use My Clinical Outcomes to carry out pre-treatment assessments. My Clinical Outcomes is currently being trialled by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in their Gynaecological Cancer service for patients with ovarian cancer and by the South East Scotland Cancer Network (SCAN) and the Edinburgh Cancer Centre (ECC) in specific groups of cancer patients. Innovative data science solutions to improve cancer care and outcomes Canon Medical Research Europe received Phase 2 funding to develop a deep learning based method to automate the assessment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma using CT scans. Collaborating with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the project plans to publish their results in March 2020 and early indications are that they have successfully achieved a world first in this field. Further information about the Cancer Innovation Challenge and the above projects can be found at the Cancer Innovation Challenge Scotland website. This article was published on 2024-09-24
