Digital cancer app saves patient and nurse time in Devon
An app that digitises the pre-assessment process for cancer therapies has saved dozens of hours of travel time and related costs for patients living in rural and coastal south Devon, according to a new evaluation by Health Innovation South West.
The app is also reducing clinical time for staff while helping to move cancer support for patients out of hospital and into communities – a key shift outlined in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan.
Around two in three cancer patients require the use of drugs to treat or control their cancer using Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapies (SACT) such as radiotherapy and immunotherapy [1].
Pre-assessments, or new patient talks, are an important part of SACT. They help to ensure the patient is ready for their treatment.
When done in-person in clinics in hospital, pre-assessments require the patient to visit the hospital, spend time and money traveling and parking, wait in waiting rooms, and risk their exposure to hospital-borne illnesses.
What’s more, pre-assessments take over an hour of nursing time per patient and the one-off session format risks information being easily forgotten by patients and their families when treatment starts. Together, these factors can be time-consuming and stressful for both patients and clinicians.
MySunrise, a digital health app and web app developed in partnership with NHS cancer teams, has digitised the pre-assessment process for SACT, to give patients access to trusted information, videos and local resources in one place, online.
The virtual platform provides standardised information, videos, and checklists that patients can consume in their own time, come back to when they want, and involve family members with. The content is locally configured and designed in collaboration with the hospital staff. Patients can remotely understand what to expect, plan ahead, and feel more in control before their treatment begins — all from the comfort of their own home.
As part of our Cancer Innovation Challenge, Health Innovation South West provided evaluation and innovation support to the team at MySunrise, to understand the impact of the MySunrise pre-assessment tools in Torbay cancer services, part of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
Our evaluation shows the virtual tools saved 138 patients in Torbay cancer services an estimated 92 hours of travel time (40 minutes per patient) and an estimated 2,760 miles (20 miles per patient) and associated fuel and parking costs in the first seven months of its implementation, between November 2023 and May 2024. Reduced travel time to pre-assessment is particularly valuable in South Devon, where much of the population live in rural and/or coastal settings.
What’s more, the tools reduced clinical time by one hour per patient (from 1.5 hour appointments to 30 minutes) because patients attended the virtual session more informed and generic information didn’t need to be repeated. This saved time was put back into meeting rising demand for SACT. “We would not have been able to sustain the workload without using MySunrise”, said one staff member at Torbay.
Our evaluation also referenced the environmental benefits of using MySunrise. An estimated 602kg of carbon dioxide was saved from reduced patient travel in the first seven months of implementing the virtual pre-assessment.
For the team behind MySunrise, our real-world evaluation offers evidence to support and improve implementation of its pre-assessment tools.
Dr George Brighton, Managing Director of MySunrise, said: “The Cancer Innovation Challenge has given us a chance to step back and bring in an independent, focused evaluation of our work, shining a light on where we have realised success but also on the opportunities to improve and develop 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. By helping people stay informed and supported wherever they are, MySunrise is proving that digital innovation can make a real difference in cancer care.”
By continuing to work with NHS partners and Health Innovation South West, MySunrise is hoping to expand its reach — ensuring that every patient has the knowledge and confidence to start their cancer treatment feeling ready and supported.
“Enabling virtual pre-assessment outside hospital is only the first step toward understanding how we can develop other parts of the cancer pathways to function digitally outside acute hospital – or to redesign services around a hybrid digital model”, says George.
“The opportunities and potential here are significant – if other touch points in the pathway, such as preparing for radiotherapy, pre-habilitation, or follow-up care, were delivered in a similar way, it could massively reduce pressure on services while still supporting high-quality patient care. With the recent launch of our Web App version of the platform we also hope to be able to widen accessibility of these tools and enable all of our pathway content in multiple languages.”
At Health Innovation South West we are supporting innovations tackling challenges in cancer care and health inequalities. Alongside MySunrise, our Cancer Innovation Challenge evaluated Gentle Recovery – an online rehabilitation programme supporting women during and post-breast cancer, and Pi (Lucida Medical) – an artificially intelligent support tool for prostate cancer. Each evaluation shines a light on where these innovations are adding value, what has worked well or not so well, and what can be learned going forward.
Read our evaluation of MySunrise pre-assessment tools in full.
References
[1] Royal College of Radiologists, Policy Briefing, The SACT capacity crisis in the NHS, 2023. https://www.rcr.ac.uk/media/updj5x5h/rcr-policy_policy-briefing-the-sact-capacity-crisis-in-thenhs.pd
