Enhancing Cancer Care Through Healthtech
One in every two people in this country will be told they have cancer at some point in their lives. Early diagnosis and rapid, effective intervention is vital to survival and quality of life.
With such figures in mind, the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, set out a series of ambitious targets to improve a number cancer outcomes. This, to a large extent, is predicated on better and faster adoption of technology to improve national screening programmes and to give people faster access to diagnostic tests, as well as cutting-edge treatments and technologies.
Historically, annualised, silo budgets have made investment in technology that produces savings over a number of years problematic. The NHS now has the opportunity to fundamentally change this approach to technology procurement, working with industry to develop more flexible payment models focused on patient outcomes.
The coronavirus pandemic, however, has significantly impacted cancer care. Whilst urgent cases have continued to be treated and acute cancers services remained in place, the suspension of screening programmes, the reluctance of citizens to interact with the health system and bottlenecks in the diagnostic pathways, have led many to highlight the negative potential consequences on the outcomes for cancer patients.
Working with its members, the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) has collated a series of case studies, highlighting a number of technologies and solutions, that if adopted effectively, could help tackle the backlog and support the broader ambitions for cancer treatment set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.