Driving innovation in cancer care – Cancer Innovation Challenge
The Cancer Innovation Challenge is testing three high-potential innovations for cancer patients in real-world settings across the South West.
Impact
Expected impact for the three innovations:
- Lucida Pi: Improved prioritisation and wait times for those most at risk of prostate cancer is expected by generating an automated risk profile for each MRI patient and enabling automatic bookings to be made for biopsy.
- MySunrise: Digitising the pre-assessment process for Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) reduces clinical time by one hour per patient, enabling the service to better meet rising demands and improve patient experiences and readiness by providing the information they need at their fingertips.
- Gentle Recovery: Improved physical and psychological well-being and better knowledge of tools to enhance resilience and recovery, especially valuable in rural communities with limited access to in-person rehabilitation.
Project summary
The Cancer Innovation Challenge is testing three high-impact innovations to accelerate diagnosis, improve pre-treatment preparation and support recovery for cancer patients in Devon and Somerset.
Health Innovation South West designed and launched the challenge, selected innovations, coordinated evaluations, brokered NHS partnerships, and funded project delivery – ensuring that promising solutions were matched to real system need.
The innovations are Lucida PI, an AI support tool for prostate cancer, MySunrise SACT-pre-assessment, a user app to help patients prepare for Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) and attend pre-assessments virtually, and Gentle Recovery, an online rehabilitation programme. The evaluations will shine a light on where the innovations are adding value, what has worked well/not so well, unintended consequences, and what can be learned going forward.
Early evidence shows the promising impact on patient experience with improved preparedness for treatment, better support for improving physical and psychological recovery outcomes, reduced administrative burden, enhanced decision support tools, released clinical capacity, improved pathway efficiency, and more person-centred care.
Alongside the real-world evaluations, the innovators have received advice and guidance to explore opportunities in the South West region and scale beyond region. Innovators have also received coaching, developed or revised value propositions, undertaken health equity assessments, developed skills in net zero planning and explored new customer markets. Two of the three innovators have secured onward funding during our time working together, generating economic growth and creating jobs.
Rationale
Cancer pathways in the South West are under pressure from rising demand and capacity limitations. Patients often face delays, fragmented care and insufficient post-treatment support, particularly in rural and coastal areas where travel challenges reduce access to hospital-based care or rehabilitation services.
Testing innovations in real-world settings rather than controlled pilots, ensures that findings reflect real operational and patient-facing challenges.
Key stakeholders
- Health Innovation South West designed, launched, funded and coordinated the project, including evaluation delivery and innovator support.
- Innovation partners: Lucida Medical, Gentle Recovery and MySunrise deliver and support the deployment of digital tools.
- Delivery partners: NHS Trusts including Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust enable clinical access and real-world implementation.
Next steps
Evaluation results are due in June 2025 and will inform:
- Business cases for scale and spread.
- Engagement with ICBs for adoption planning.
- Identification of further innovation needs in cancer care.
Opportunities remain open for additional trusts and systems to test or adopt these tools, and from partners who can support spread and scale.
Innovations like Pi™ have the potential to improve waiting times for patients with suspected prostate cancer by helping clinicians identify high risk men and booking them in for biopsy quickly. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust were an early adopter of Pi™ and the support from the Cancer Innovation Challenge has been critical in generating the evidence to show how Pi™ can best support the delivery of their 28-day prostate cancer pathway. This work has supported the business case for scale and spread of Pi™ across the NHS and has already led to engagement with other NHS Trusts who are very keen to see the results.
Lucy Davies, VP of Clinical, Lucida Medical
The cancer challenge has been a hugely valuable opportunity and we are very grateful to the team at Health Innovation South West for the time and expertise that has gone into this work. It's given us a chance to step back and bring in an independent focussed evaluation of our work, shining a light on where we have realised success but also on the opportunities to improve our offer. The guidance around how we can better realise health inequalities and net zero benefits from our platform offer has also been very helpful. We look forward to being able to share this report and improve awareness of the value of our platform in supporting cancer patients through treatment but also helping to take pressure off cancer services.
George Brighton, GP, Co-Founder, Director & Clinical Safety Officer, MySunrise
