RADCARE – the first radiotherapy app aimed and designed for the patient pathway

As an artist, it is commonplace to design things to reveal or challenge and resolve problems. However in healthcare there seems to be very little space to do so. But digital technologies can help us to do this. After falling sick myself, I saw problems within the NHS as a patient (as well as amazing compassionate care) that I knew we could begin to solve, easily, using technology and compassionate- human-focused care.

I decided to enrol onto a radiotherapy & oncology BSc at Sheffield Hallam University after my experience as a patient, eager to make the difference I so badly wanted for myself.  It was here where the need for clear patient information about radiotherapy treatment was highlighted. Online there are very few websites that explain clearly and easily how radiotherapy works, what to expect, the side-effects and how long everything takes.  This is mainly because radiotherapy treatment is personalised depending upon the patient, their histology and placement of the tumour, as well as the centre that they’re treated at. But even so, general knowledge of radiotherapy by the public is very poor and this shows within patient’s anxieties.

Much research highlights that patient anxiety and stress is down to unclear and not enough information provided about their treatment and care. I believe that lots of radiotherapy patients would benefit from having clear, up to date, interactive information about their specific treatment, which is available at any time to help support them and their loved ones through their radiotherapy treatment journey.

The information I designed used already existing NHS Trust information on radiotherapy treatment as its foundation. I then layered the information, by personalizing it, designing it to be interactive and providing more information clearly in formats tested with focus groups and surveys. The information I gained from these surveys and focus groups were from previous service users, students, healthcare professionals, radiotherapists, carers and clinicians as well as the general public. They highlighted 8 areas of informational needs: logistics; before treatment; treatment; side-effects; support; family support, financial support, after treatment,

From these informational needs highlighted, I have then created videos, interactive time-lines, sourced information packs, contact numbers, ect – so that the app becomes a source of all knowledge, that’s accessible and easy to understand and can be used to communicate across the medical profession. The app is in prototype form and is still being tested with previous service users to ensure that it’s the best that it can be before released in the itunes/Google play app store. From these tester sessions, and within clinical placement, I have received really positive feedback about the potential outreach and impact it can have on the patient’s radiotherapy experience. An example is the side-effect timeline – you are unlikely to have a skin-reaction during the first week of treatment; this is rarely shown in information but many patients are worried about it and want to know what is normal and what isn’t. The app enables you to personalise your radiotherapy treatment choice and then gives a timeline on when to approximately expect certain side-effects, over the weeks of treatment, and how to make sure you are prepared (what medications should you ask for, nurse appointments coming up) and how to avoid making them worse.

I’m nominating this project today, despite it not being fully finished yet, to help highlight this gap and need for clearer, personal information to help enable more patient-centered-care for patients and their loved-ones going through radiotherapy treatment. I understand that it probably won’t win any awards at the moment, but any help with or acknowledgement of the radiotherapy information app project would be absolutely amazing