Innovations in Cancer Care
The SACT Verification Passport could become a model for cancer pharmacy practice worldwide.
Digital innovation in cancer pharmacy professionals’ training
The systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACT) Verification Passport is a digital solution allowing pharmacy staff to move between organisations and take a record of their training with them.
Netty Cracknell Lead Cancer Pharmacist, Member of the BOPA digital
Pharmacy plays a crucial role in cancer treatment, particularly in managing chemotherapy and other SACT. These therapies — ranging from traditional chemotherapy to advanced immunotherapies and CAR-T cell treatments — are highly complex and carry significant risks, including severe side effects and death.
Specialist pharmacy training
Ensuring that each patient receives the right medicines, at the right doses and at the right time requires specialist pharmacists. These professionals undergo extensive training beyond the five years of university and foundation training, which is required to legally qualify as a pharmacist within the UK.
Training challenges
SACT Verification Passport solution
The BOPA digital SACT Verification Passport is an innovative solution developed in partnership with the Compassly app. The passport delivers modules of training in the form of multiple choice questions, mock situations and tracks training as well as other features.
Not only does this boost efficiency, but it also enhances the safety and quality of care for cancer patients.
In 2022, the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) identified major inconsistencies in how this training is provided across the UK. Some organisations had overlapping training programmes, leading to inefficiencies when pharmacists moved between hospitals.
It allows pharmacists to carry their certification between organisations, standardising the level of training across the UK. The passport saves time and resources by eliminating duplicate training UK-wide while making it easier to track and update qualifications within organisations.
Not only does this boost efficiency, but it also enhances the safety and quality of care for cancer patients. With global interest already growing, the SACT Verification Passport could become a model for cancer pharmacy practice worldwide.
Jonathan Knight CEO and Co-Founder, Tefogo Member of the BOPA digital
SACT Verification Passport project
Sarah Mitchell Cancer-Care Pharmacist, Member of the BOPA digital
SACT Verification Passport project
SACT Verification Passport project
How intraoperative ultrasound improves clinical decision-making in brain tumour surgery
Intraoperative ultrasound imaging technology is being used in brain tumour operations to give surgeons a view of the brain and help them make real-time surgical decisions.
Ultrasound imaging has long been a fixture of the radiology department and antenatal clinic, allowing healthcare professionals to make diagnoses and monitor the development of a baby in the womb. Yet, there are versions of the technology, like intraoperative ultrasound, that can also play a critical role during complex surgical procedures — including operations to remove brain tumours.
Intraoperative ultrasound benefits in surgeries
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“Before surgery, the patient will usually have an MRI scan to show the location and size of a tumour,” explains Mr William Lo, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. “However, the brain is a soft structure, which moves and shifts during the operation, so these pre-acquired images no longer represent what the surgeons are dealing with. This is why intraoperative ultrasound is so helpful. During the operation, an ultrasound scanner provides the surgeons live images of the tumour and its precise location, including the depth not visible to the naked eye — as well as real-time information about the vessels and normal brain structures surrounding it. The information enables the surgeons to modify their surgical decision-making. Unlike X-ray-based imaging, there is no exposure to radiation.
Live images of tumour boundary during operations
At Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Mr Lo and his team routinely use the technology in various surgical scenarios, including brain tumour resections. “When performing a brain tumour resection, the aim is to remove as much of the tumour as possible to increase the chance of survival and reduce the risk of recurrence,” he says. “Ultrasound helps us visualise exactly where the tumour ends and where the healthy brain tissue begins; in other words, the resection margin. Staying along this boundary helps preserve the patient’s neurological function — for instance, movement, speech and visual function.”
In 2021, Birmingham Children’s Hospital acquired a new intraoperative ultrasound system to improve patient outcomes. “Ultrasound technology is continuously improving,” says Mr Lo. “The image
quality from a modern scanner is excellent, and the design of the machine is user-friendly, making it easier for surgeons to obtain useful visual information when they most need it.”
Enhanced precision and safety in brain biopsies
In some cases, the brain tumour is in a deep or sensitive location, and therefore, resection is inappropriate. The diagnosis then relies on a minimally invasive biopsy, where a needle is passed into the brain to obtain a small sample of the tumour. By providing live images of the needle, ultrasound provides reassurance and confirmation that the surgeons have reached the target safely.
Risk reduction advantages for patients
The ability to ‘see through’ the brain, in real-time during different kinds of brain tumour surgeries allows neurosurgeons to carry out the procedures more accurately and effectively. This ultimately improves patient safety, surgical outcomes and overall care quality for brain tumour patients.
Mr William Lo Consultant Neurosurgeon, Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Tony Greenway
Brain tumour surgery with intraoperative ultrasound frees patient from epilepsy seizures
Roxy Croxford’s brain tumour was successfully removed with the help of intraoperative ultrasound — technology that gives surgeons a real-time view of a lesion’s location.
Two years ago, at 14, Roxy Croxford had a strange feeling in her right leg. “Tremors started running through it — shaking that lasted for a couple of minutes,” she remembers. “This started to happen three or four times a day.”
Impact of childhood brain tumour
Her condition got progressively worse. During a family holiday, Roxy had a shaking attack that was more violent than ever. Back in the UK, she had a full seizure. Ultimately, Roxy was referred to a specialist at Warwick Hospital and diagnosed with epilepsy.
“Epilepsy meant I couldn’t walk to school on my own in case I had a seizure,” says Roxy. “It affected everything. I couldn’t even sit on the top deck of a bus in case I fell down the stairs and couldn’t go swimming without telling the lifeguard about my condition. It’s extremely debilitating.”
Being identified as a candidate for brain surgery
care of Mr William Lo, Consultant Neurosurgeon. Mr Lo and his team carried out the operation earlier this year using intraoperative ultrasound, which shows surgeons a live, real-time view of the tumour and its precise location. It gives confidence to the surgical team that the tumour was completely removed without comprising the important surrounding normal brain tissue.
I’m not as scared that I’m going to randomly have a seizure while walking down the street.
Despite the medication, the seizures persisted. The results of the MRI showed the cause: Roxy had a growth on her brain — a low-grade glioma (usually benign) located in the area that controlled leg movement. She was referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where she was identified as a candidate for surgery under the
After its successful removal, the tumour was confirmed to be benign. Roxy has been seizure-free since. “Forty-five minutes after coming round from surgery, I was sitting up, eating,” says Roxy. “Mr Lo has been fantastic. He explained what was going to happen in a simple and matter-of-fact way, so we knew what the plan was and adhered to it.”
Roxy is now getting back to all the things she enjoys doing. “When I go out, I’m not as scared that I’m going to randomly have a seizure while walking down the street,” she says. “I feel much more confident about what I can do.”
Spread Paid for by BK Medical, (now the Surgical Visualization & Guidance segment of GE HealthCare)
Roxy Croxford Patient
WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway
Wales’ cancer care plan for prevention,
detection and personalised treatment
Cancer care in Wales is advancing with the ambition to improve survival rates, which currently fall behind those of many other countries, including ones of similar size and wealth.
Driving innovation to frontline services is essential, enabled by building enduring partnerships across sectors to rapidly translate research into practice and co-develop solutions. We’re investing in strengthening our health and care system to become an early adopter of transformative innovation.
Cancer care priorities
Wales’ Cancer Improvement Plan and National Cancer Research Strategy identify key priorities focused on prevention, earlier detection and personalised cancer care through genomics. Research themes include precision and mechanistic oncology, immuno-oncology and data-driven predictive analytics.
Investment in key infrastructure includes the All-Wales Medical Genomics Service, Wales Cancer Bank, the Wales Cancer Research Centre and data infrastructure including the SAIL Databank and Artificial Intelligence Commission.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths; skin cancer cases are rising; and urological, breast, colorectal and gynaecological cancers present significant burdens.
Highlighting the importance of childhood cancer research
Accelerating cancer innovation
New service models and technologies are being rapidly co-developed, such as the QuicDNA programme, which offers liquid biopsies for early lung cancer detection. This programme is currently being trialled with a consortium of international partners.
We’re playing a critical role in supporting the Welsh Government Tackling Cancer initiative. Fostering collaboration between industry, healthcare, academia and charities to accelerate the deployment of innovative cancer care solutions. Wales is seeking to co-develop and adopt at pace.
Join us in the fight against cancer. Pitch your cancer innovations here: lshubwales.com/innovation-enquiry-form
Cari-Anne Quinn CEO, Life Sciences Hub Wales
Ball-Gamble Chief Executive, Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG)
WOne in 500 children in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they are 14 years of age.
hile many children will survive their cancer, survival for some cancers are poor and have not improved for decades. Cancer remains the biggest killer by disease of children in the UK. For those children who do survive, many are left with lifelong, debilitating side effects from their treatment. This needs to change.
Research driving childhood cancer progress
Cancer remains the biggest killer by disease of children in the UK.
This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) is highlighting the importance of research to helping us realise our vision of a world where all children diagnosed with cancer not only survive but live happy, healthy and independent lives. In 1977, when CCLG was founded, childhood cancer survival rates were around two in 10, compared to eight in 10 now. This amazing progress has been driven by research, with CCLG at the forefront of much of this improvement. Yet, there is still much more to be done.
Research is the driving force behind not only improving survival for children with cancer, but also minimising the harsh side effects by finding and developing innovative new treatments. Since 2016, CCLG has funded 204 research projects, to a value of almost £30 million, which is helping to lead the way in the fight against cancer.
Help us make a difference this Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Support CCLG this Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Your donation could help us to fund pioneering, world-class research that will help change the future for children with cancer.
Ashley