Publish date: 17 December 2024
Screening for malignant melanoma using artificial intelligence, a digital cancer care platform to connect patients to their healthcare teams and an initiative to take mobile chemotherapy pumps out to children with cancer are amongst the innovative schemes benefiting from Cancer Alliance funding.
Four projects have so far been funded through the Cancer Alliance’s annual innovation funding competition which awards money to initiatives that promote early cancer diagnosis and better care.
The competition also seeks to:
- Encourage the adoption, acceleration, and deployment of best practice
- Support the strategic objectives of the Cancer Alliance
- Ensure that available cancer transformation funding responds to needs identified locally, as well as those taken from policy priorities nationally
- Create opportunities to improve early diagnosis and patient experience in line with the NHS Long Term Plan
In 2024 we refreshed the awards to have two schemes:
- Scheme 1 includes reserved funding allocation for Trust, Place, and the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector
- Scheme 2 is a new, competitive funding element, available to any partner eligible for funding under scheme 1
A total of 57 applications were received under scheme 2 with four proving successful in receiving funding. They are:
- Careology – Acute Oncology - Digital App – Airedale
Careology is a digital cancer care platform that supports patients through their cancer treatment, empowering them throughout their journey.
Patients at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust will be the first in the North to be offered this pioneering new digital innovation, connecting patients to their healthcare team.
The plan is to roll this out in January 2025.
- Improving Liver Cancer Radiotherapy – Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The study, which is underway, aims to improve liver cancer radiotherapy by developing cutting edge imaging techniques. Phase one involves world-first technology which allows a treatment plan using a single 4D-MRI scan.
Phase 2 will combine the 4D-MRI-only technology with artificial intelligence-driven real-time 4D motion assessment technology that should predict liver/tumour motion during treatment.
- Paediatric Ambulatory Chemotherapy Project - Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The Leeds Children’s Hospital Paediatric Oncology team is planning to develop an ambulatory chemotherapy (AC) model to respond to the needs of young patients by minimising the time spent in hospital.
Ambulatory chemotherapy is an alternative approach to conventional inpatient chemotherapy delivery, using mobile backpack infusion pumps.
At present, ambulatory chemotherapy is provided for adults in Leeds. Patients who are under the age of 18 years do not currently have access to this model of care, resulting in significant inequalities.
This project will begin in 2025.
- Early Detection of Melanoma - Mole Mapping Project - Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
This project focuses on increasing early detection of melanoma skin cancer in high-risk patients across the region by improving the efficiency of screening with an automated whole body 2D imaging solution equipped with artificial intelligence.
Research and a real-world pilot have demonstrated that this system is an innovative solution for the regional melanoma/pigmented lesion clinic (PLC) service that is a safe, effective and a significantly more efficient solution for monitoring high-risk patients than the current system. This will significantly improve the PLC consultant’s ability to detect melanoma early.
Roll out of this project is early 2025.
