The Engineer

Online system helps manage prostate cancer treatment

News

A web-based software system that could help health professionals to manage the treatment of prostate cancer has been developed in the East Midlands.

The Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) has successfully been piloted in Derby and Nottingham, and has been commissioned by Derby City Primary Care Trust.

The CDSS processes a patient’s symptoms and test results to enable professionals to determine when patients need to see a hospital consultant, and which cases can be more effectively monitored and treated by general practitioners and nurses in the community.

The system will mean that patients with less complex conditions will not have to make repeat trips to hospital, while consultants will have more time to focus on and treat the most serious urological disorders.

Mr Mike Henley, consultant urologist for Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, headed up the collaborative project between the trust and Mansfield-based companies iQudos and MS3.

Speaking about the system, Fred Jacobs, chief executive officer of iQudos and MS3, said: ’Consultants are still vital for diagnosing and treating patients. This system supports nursing staff to provide treatment and recommend disease management for the local GP, freeing up time for the hospital consultants to perform more complicated or urgent procedures.’

NHS Innovation East Midlands (the region’s NHS Innovation hub) helped form the partnership, which then developed and tested the CDSS once a Technology Demonstration grant of £280,000 from EMDA, the regional development agency for the East Midlands, had been secured.

The grant was matched by Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Additional support was provided by the Healthcare and Bioscience Innovation Network (iNet), which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and EMDA.

Following successful trialling of the software in Derby and Nottingham, CDSS is due to be rolled out across 250,000 patients this summer. The online software has been approved for use as a medical device across the EU and will also be used in the management of other long-term-care diseases.