The challenge
Trusts often find the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) liver surveillance patients to be a challenge as patients require regular surveillance over a long period of time and it can be difficult to manage the logistics of where a patient is within their surveillance cycle.
In this situation many Trusts use locally held spreadsheets to manage patients, but this can be risky as it can lead to missed cycles due to human error. There have been examples of patients with cirrhosis, with a treatable lesion identified on imaging, being ‘missed’ by the system and later presenting with a decompensated disease (liver failure) due to untreatable/advanced HCC.
The St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (STHK) team run an HCC liver surveillance programme which monitors patients every six months with annual follow up in clinics. They identified a requirement to replace their current system of spreadsheets with a web-based solution and asked NECS to help.
Our response
The NECS Digital Applications and Solutions team worked collaboratively with Mark Fox, a Consultant Gastroenterologist and the Hepatology Arm of the Gastroenterology Team at STHK Trust, for over a year. The aim was to develop an application which not only provided effective patient management of their HCC liver surveillance programme, but that also ensured effective call/recall of patients and tracking of clinical decisions.
NECS delivered a minimum viable product (MVP) for the Trust in August 2020. This IT solution was developed to overcome this labour-intensive problem, so that HCC liver surveillance was robust and would meet the NICE and EASL guidelines. It would also allow detection of HCCs at an earlier and treatable stage, with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes to an ever increasing/ prevalent stable cirrhotic cohort.
Outcomes
Through collaborative working, NECS delivered an application which supported robust HCC liver surveillance and improved patient outcomes.
“Throughout this process, our group has been hugely impressed with NECS’ collective approach and overall professionalism. The NECS team are strong communicators who have driven and steered our joint project, co-ordinating meetings and probing all parties to ensure timely completion of actions. Our experience has shown that they are expert in IT innovation, solving real-life clinical/management issues which benefits both clinical teams and patients alike.
I would highly recommend NECS to any healthcare provider seeking to automate the delivery of chronic disease management to maximise efficiency / reduce workload and improve safety and governance of their service. It has been a huge pleasure.”