Transforming Cancer Pathways with Digital Innovation

Improving Cancer Pathways: challenges, overcoming barriers and digital solutions

Among its ambitions to reduce NHS waiting lists and improve health outcomes the government has highlighted two key goals. The first is to dramatically increase the number of appointments available, and secondly to get to at least 92% of patients to begin their treatment or, better still, be given the all-clear within the 18-week target. Improvements in both of these areas will certainly make a difference, but how we get there offers much opportunity to debate.

Nowhere is this more important and emotive than with cancer pathways. According to Lord Darzi’s independent investigation, the UK is lagging behind other countries on mortality rates and has made no progress in diagnosing cancer at stage one and two between 2013 and 2021.

In a system that faces workforce and budget shortages as well as limited capacity for diagnosis and treatment, it is often technology where we turn to find solutions. However, this is also where legacy systems and processes that are not built for effective data exchange, automation or integration with new technologies often stand in the way.

We recently supported Public Policy Projects (PPP) by sponsoring and taking part in a round table discussion on ‘How can digital technology improve pathways for patients and clinicians, build capacity, reduce backlogs and ultimately improve patient outcomes?’. The session was chaired by Gillian Rosenberg, cancer innovation lead at NHS England, and attended by clinical oncologists, Cancer Alliance representatives, clinical nurse specialists, industry representatives, GPs and Health Innovation Network representatives.

Through the experienced voices that were brought together for this debate we have heard valuable insights and real-world examples on the challenges faced daily, but also on specific areas where technology can be a catalyst for change. This was extremely valuable, as digital transformation always works best when solutions are developed with the needs of people - both patients and healthcare workers - at the centre.  

Among the key talking points were:

• How can we effectively introduce single electronic patient records across both primary and secondary care?

• How can automation help to reduce the heavy burden of duplicated administrative tasks and documentation?

• How can we capture the patient experience better for improving pathways?

• What benefits can central piloting for new innovations unlock?

• What are the barriers to interoperability of digital systems?

• What opportunities can AI offer?

• Are there ways to immediately unlock more efficiencies through technology?

The full debate captures many ideas and solutions that all cancer units should be looking at to help create the change we need to shift the dial on improving early diagnosis and creating more seamless pathways.