AN app that allows breast cancer patients to record the symptoms of their treatment and delivers the data to doctors in real time is being trialled by a Scottish health board.
OWise, created by Px HealthCare, also lets patients log side effects and share them with clinicians, allowing them to track an individual’s progress and recommend adjustments to treatment plans.
This gives a more personalised approach to breast cancer treatment, improving patients’ experience and overall wellbeing. It also has the potential to improve clinical outcomes as doctors can closely follow symptoms and make adjustments as soon as they appear. When it was originally launched in the Netherlands in 2013, a clinical study showed 90% of patients would recommend OWise to others, as well as 90% of doctors and nurses.
NHS Lothian is now trialling the app, which has been updated, on breast cancer patients. It includes a traffic light system sending patients alerts and showing doctors and nurses immediately if their symptoms deteriorate.
The app reached the second phase of the Cancer Innovation Challenge in 2018, a £1 million project backed by the Scottish Funding Council to encourage collaboration between innovation centres, medical professionals and healthcare firms to help Scotland become a world leader in cancer care. The company was given a further £100,000 to evaluate the app’s impact. The project brings together three Scottish innovation centres – the Data Lab, Digital Health and Care Institute (DHI) and Stratified Medicine Scotland (SMS).
Cancer patient Julie, 49, said: “As a breast cancer patient, the OWise App is an invaluable tool to give peace of mind that supports during stressful treatment periods when monitoring is thorough and continuous.”
Dr Peter Hall, a consultant medical oncologist at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, said: “It definitely improves our ability to understand how cancer and its treatment are affecting a patient.”
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