The NHS DigiTrials initiative is looking to recruit 150,000 volunteers for four research projects around cancer diagnosis and treatment, and children’s surgery.
120,000 of those volunteers will be recruited for the BEST4 Heartburn Health trial, involving the testing of a new screening technique for oesophageal cancer which sees patients swallow a “compressed sponge on a string” to help with the extraction of cells.
Two more cancer research projects – MyMelanoma and PROTECT-C – will recruit 20,000 and 5,000 volunteers respectively, to improve understanding of melanoma and its treatment, and to check genetic risk for ovarian, breast, endometrial, and colorectal cancer.
A Children’s Surgery Outcome Reporting project will also be recruiting around 4,000 volunteers, focusing on care for children requiring “complex surgery” shortly after their birth.
The DigiTrials service will identify NHS patients who may be suitable for each trial, and will send out letters and text messages to encourage them to join.
Vin Diwakar, national director of transformation at NHS England, highlighted the “struggle” research trials can face with identifying and recruiting eligible patients, adding that the DigiTrials service can help overcome this by inviting people “faster, fairly and at scale”.
Digital in support of health research
Over the summer, the UK government announced that it would be investing £100 million in five new quantum research hubs, tasked with developing quantum technology for industries including healthcare. As well as delivering benefits for economic growth, the hubs are intended to build a “more efficient” and “fit for the future” NHS, developing surgical interventions, treatments, and innovations such as quantum-enhanced blood tests.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research also awarded a £700,000 research grant to a study seeking to explore the potential of digital health interventions in improving recovery and quality of life for patients following elective surgery. The funded study is a three-year randomised controlled trial designed to “rigorously assess” the efficacy of Surgery Hero, a digital surgery clinic combining research, tech, and health coaching to help people recover from surgery in their home.
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust’s research and development strategy also highlighted the role of digital and data, focusing on three key objectives: to undertake a journey of improvement including utilisation of digital healthcare tools and services, to ensure safe, high quality care, and to support and value the workforce.
And just this month, Health Data Research UK introduced a new version of its Health Data Research Gateway, with updated features including smart search and linked resources designed to “empower the research community and accelerate scientific discovery for public benefit”. Initially launched in 2020, the Gateway aims to streamline the process of finding and requesting secure access to datasets, offering a “single front door” to the NHS Research Secure Data Environment (SDE) Network to improve the discoverability of NHS data for research purposes.
Looking to collaborations with academia, industry, and healthcare providers, Digital Health and Care Wales announced a new partnership with Life Sciences Hub Wales designed to “drive healthcare advancements in Wales through digital innovation”, with a series of events planned to promote knowledge exchange and collaboration.
