Pioneering organisations drive improvements in cancer care

Three pioneering organisations have strengthened Scotland’s position as a world leading carer for people with cancer, following the completion of the Cancer Innovation Challenge, a £1m project funded by the Scottish Funding Council.

Launched in 2017, the Cancer Innovation Challenge brought together three Innovation Centres, led by The Data Lab in collaboration with the Digital Health and Care Institute (now Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre) and Stratified Medicine Scotland (now Precision Medicine Scotland). The challenge was created to encourage collaboration between innovation centres, medical professionals and cutting-edge healthcare businesses.

As part of the Cancer Innovation Challenge, three organisations were funded to develop and evaluate their solutions to help the NHS in Scotland use data to improve a patient’s cancer journey. This included London-based businesses, Px HealthCare (Px) and My Clinical Outcomes (MCO) and Edinburgh-headquartered Canon Medical Research Europe.

Px further developed its OWise app for breast cancer patients to record their treatment symptoms and side effects, with data delivered to clinicians in real time, directly within the Electronic Health Record system.

This allows clinicians to easily track an individual’s progress and recommend adjustments to treatment plans, based on real time data reported by patients.

The app was trialled by NHS Lothian and Px has gone on to work with Prostate Scotland, Maggie’s Centres and clinicians of the West of Scotland Cancer Network to develop the OWise platform for prostate cancer patients and their clinicians.

Dr Anne Bruinvels, Founder and CEO of Px said: “The OWise app gives patients increased control over their treatment, allowing them to communicate with their clinicians continually and in a meaningful way.

“Similarly, the app provides professionals with a detailed and current picture of how their patients are coping at any given time; this ongoing record of their experience allows clinicians to consider and tailor treatments in a timely and effective way.

“The Cancer Innovation Challenge opened up further opportunities for us to trial and refine our technology, working with new services to demonstrate how we can improve patient experience while making an immediate impact on improving cancer outcomes.”

MCO is an online platform which harnesses patient reported data to improve the quality of life of cancer patients through the analysis of side effects and symptoms. Used throughout the diagnosis, treatment and long-term care phases, it provides clinicians with a fuller understanding of their patients’ conditions and how they are responding to treatment.

The platform was initially deployed for use by patients with haematological cancer at NHS Ayrshire and Arran and MCO also worked on further Cancer Innovation Challenge projects with Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the South and East Scotland Cancer Network.

Tim Williams, Founder of My Clinical Outcomes, said: “We know from clinical trials that using real-time patient reported outcome data can help improve and prolong patients’ lives. This was never more apparent or important than during the height of the pandemic where we scaled the use of the platform to support virtual care pathways across NHS Scotland.

“The Cancer Innovation Challenge gave us the chance to deliver our solution for the first time in routine cancer care and we are pleased to have gone on to scale the approach to Health Boards such as Cardiff and Vale in NHS Wales and with Integrated Care Systems such as Sussex ICS.

“We are currently focused on scaling the proven clinical, quality of life and cost benefits to other health boards and cancer centres to show how we can remotely monitor patients and help transform the efficiency and effectiveness of managing pathways.”

The third project was led by Canon Medical Research Europe, an Edinburgh based company specialising in next generation medical imaging software, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the University of Glasgow.

The project resulted in the development of a new, world-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven cancer assessment tool using deep learning. The team created a prototype AI system able to automatically find and measure the rare cancer, Mesothelioma, on CT scans and to assess patients’ responses to treatments.

Scotland currently has the highest incidence of Mesothelioma in the world, a reflection of the historical use of asbestos in UK industries, such as shipbuilding and construction.

The project’s clinical findings have been published and presented around the world. The team have now progressed into the next optimisation phase of its work as part of the international PREDICT-Meso Accelerator project, led by the University of Glasgow, and are currently collecting 2,000 CT scans which will allow it to further develop the AI.

Ken Sutherland, President of Canon Medical Research Europe: “The Cancer Innovation Challenge provided us with a platform to showcase how we can use artificial intelligence to deliver an enhanced picture of how cancers present and the impact on patients.

“Mesothelioma is a particularly difficult cancer to work with and, given its prevalence in Scotland, we were pleased to have the opportunity to work with clinicians and patients in Glasgow.

“The delivery of such world leading, and impactful results represents an astounding success for us all. However much more than that, it provides us with a glimpse of what is possible with the use of technology and data. We are now developing our project further and look forward to sharing more updates when we can.”

Steph Wright, from The Data Lab who led on the project, commented: “Outcomes for cancer patients in Scotland fall behind those of our Northern European counterparts, however Scotland has some of the best health service data in the world.  This is a clear area for innovation, research and development and we are delighted that, through this project, organisations came together and rose to the challenge.

“It has been a pleasure to be the lead Innovation Centre for this fantastic project, working with organisations with the skills and knowledge to create truly transformational technologies.

“By driving collaboration to help deliver tangible outcomes, the Cancer Innovation Challenge has provided an insight into how ground-breaking research and innovation with data can improve the experience of cancer patients.”

Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “We can do amazing things to tackle the biggest and most difficult challenges we face as a society when we bring together the right people and the right resources to move things forward.

“The Cancer Innovation Challenge provides a model for how this can be done. For the Innovation Centres and their partners, it created the stimulus and supplied the framework for a raft of data science innovations.

“It’s fascinating and also heartening to see in this report how these are now transforming the lives of cancer patients. I am proud we were able to play a part in this pioneering initiative.”

Strengthening links to Europe

Researchers based in Scotland and Europe can apply to a new £3 million scheme aimed at repairing research links with the EU following the damaging impact of Brexit.

Hundreds of European research and innovation projects are expected to benefit from the Scottish Government’s Saltire Research Awards.

The fund, delivered via the Scottish Funding Council and Royal Society of Edinburgh, will be open to all research disciplines including arts, humanities and social sciences and multidisciplinary projects.

Higher and Further Education Minister Jamie Hepburn (above) said: “Scotland’s excellence in research and innovation is one of our greatest assets and our international connections are vital to maintaining and extending this.

“Many of our most effective collaborations are with partners in Europe and our new £3 million fund will help Scotland reinvigorate and repair vital research partnerships with Europe following the uncertainty caused by Brexit in recent years. This is crucial especially for our successful participation in Horizon Europe.

“Research collaboration has been crucial during the pandemic and will continue to be critical in addressing the net zero transition and other global challenges. Scotland’s future continues to firmly include European research collaboration and now is the time to help our researchers grow these important partnerships.”

Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “Collaboration with European institutions has been vital for Scotland’s world-leading status in university research and their success in winning European research grants and contracts.

“The funding announced today will help keep those research partnerships going and enable us to attract top international research talent.

“We very much welcome this funding and look forward to the impact it will have across the sector.”

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, interim President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh said: “Programmes such as the Saltire Research Awards play an important role in supporting research excellence and maintaining Scotland’s reputation as a world leader in research.

“We look forward to working with the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council to making the awards a success”.

New online module for Scottish universities supports student carers

Carers Trust Scotland and The Open University in Scotland have joined forces to help improve support to thousands of student carers in Scotland, who are studying alongside providing unpaid care for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems.

Carer Aware is a new online training module which has been developed by Carers Trust Scotland and The Open University in Scotland with funding from The Scottish Funding Council. The module will help university staff to better understand the challenges faced by many student carers and provides guidance on how to improve support for these students at university.

Research by Carers Trust found that:

  • Student carers are four times more likely to drop out of college and university than those who are not carers;
  • 84% of student carers find keeping good mental health while studying to be a challenge;
  • 87% of student carers can find concentrating on assignments and work at home challenging.

Together, Carers Trust Scotland and The Open University in Scotland are calling on all Scottish universities to use this free resource to help their staff better identify, support and report on their student carers.

Scott Lafferty, Development Manager for Carers Trust Scotland, said: “Carers Trust Scotland is delighted to have worked with The Open University in Scotland to launch Carer Aware at University, an online module for university professionals.

“It aims to raise awareness to the challenges that many student carers face and offers guidance on how universities in Scotland can provide improved support to student carers, so that they have a fair chance to be successful in their own education and achieve their true potential in all aspects of their lives.”

Student carers can greatly benefit from dedicated support from their university and the Carer Aware at University online module should help improve outcomes for student carers after study.

Shona Littlejohn, Depute Director, Student Experience & Widening Access, at The Open University in Scotland, said: “Carer Aware at University is built around the stories of student carers as they share their experience of caring for a family member or friend, and the impact that has on their university studies.

“Huge thanks go to the many student carers who contributed to the course. This makes it a very compelling resource and really helps university staff better understand the challenges student carers face in juggling their unpaid care role alongside studying.”

This new resource complements existing work being undertaken by both organisations to raise awareness, improve identification and ensure adequate support is in place to give student carers a fair chance to be successful in their own education.

Since 2017, Carers Trust Scotland has been rolling out Going Higher for Student Carers Recognition Award, a scheme to assist and encourage all 19 of Scotland’s universities to develop their policies and practices to improve support for student carers, and award good practice. The Open University in Scotland achieved the award in 2020 demonstrating their commitment to improving their support for student carers.

Many student carers remain unidentified and unsupported at university and continue to be a hidden group.

There are student carers in every university trying to successfully complete their course to the best of their ability just like their peers. Yet, they often experience additional challenges because of their unpaid caring responsibilities and do not always receive the support they need to successfully complete university.

This prevents students with caring responsibilities from reaching their full potential, maintaining good health and wellbeing, and having equal access to the opportunities open to other students. 

Additionally, due to the impact of the current Coronavirus pandemic, we know that many student carers are taking on additional caring responsibilities, therefore increasing the need for support at university.

The Carer Aware at University module was developed with partners in the University of Stirling, Heriot-Watt University, Glasgow Caledonian University and the College Development Network.

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