Digital personalised cancer care planning

A predicted 4 million people will be Living With and Beyond Cancer (LWBC) in the UK by 2030. Although the NHS is committed to provide personalised care and to identify individual needs of those who are LWBC, we know that the content, delivery, and timing of personalised care planning differs across practice. The nature of the changing COVID-19 environment also means that existing supportive cancer care services that have traditionally used face-to-face approaches are being rapidly re-designed, with more services replacing in-person interactions with digital care planning.

While the virtual environment provides an opportunity to offer timelier care, it also poses the risk of limiting access and influencing the quality of conversations and relationships between staff and patients. The fellowship research will assess digital health contributions to person-centred care, and explore how to improve the quality of collaborative digital care planning in cancer services using the electronic holistic needs assessment.