Partner: STCS – a software development company who design and deliver bespoke products to support business and digital transformation.
Project: As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, people between the ages of 55 and 75 who have ever smoked are being invited for a lung health check, with the aim of detecting cancer at an early stage and saving lives.
The national targeted lung health check (TLHC) programme aims to screen up to 600,000 people who may be at risk of lung cancer, to see if they would benefit from a CT scan.
The programme is being rolled out nationally via regional cancer alliances and clinical commissioning groups, funded by NHS England Improvement.
In order to better manage the full patient pathway for the programme, the Newcastle Hospitals commercial team invited STCS to partner with us on the design and build of a patient relationship management system.
The system, known as TLHC Manager, can organise appointments for the initial lung health check screen and any follow up appointments required, such as a CT scan, using two separate tools to calculate risk scores. It can also facilitate correspondence, such as appointment and follow up letters for patients.
How we helped: The TLHC team at Newcastle Hospitals played a key role in the design of the system, ensuring that it met the screening programme’s requirements, including incorporating the two risk calculating tools.
The commercial enterprise team worked with the trust’s chief information officer and TLHC team to define the best route for commercialisation and to refine contractual and compliance details for roll out of the system, including NHS digital technology assessment criteria, a data protection impact assessment and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) conformity.
Outcome: We continue to work closely with STCS to identify and support potential new clients for the product, providing a unique user perspective to complement their technical expertise.
There is already strong interest from a number of organisations delivering the lung screening programme.
All Newcastle Hospital’s share of proceeds from sales of the system will be reinvested into NHS patient care.
