Engagement team ensures patient’s voice is heard

Health Innovation North West Coast’s award-winning patient engagement team has played a key role in the development of an innovative diagnostic test that can prevent oesophageal cancer.

Our Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) team ensures the patient’s voice is at the forefront of all our projects, supporting the development of innovations by ‘road-testing’ them and assessing their acceptability among patients.

The team worked with NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance and Cyted Health on the project which landed an award at the North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards.

The scheme involved a capsule sponge test, developed by Cyted Health, a diagnostic test for oesophageal cancer and the precancerous Barrett’s oesophagus. The test replaces an endoscopy and so relieves pressures on secondary care.

The PPIE team interviewed more than 300 people about the procedure to gauge its acceptability and produced an information leaflet for patients. This short animation explains the procedure.

Richard McNally from Cyted Health said: "The expert PPIE support provided by Health Innovation North West Coast was pivotal in the delivery of the CYTOPRIME2 project. They were able to call on a panel of people who gave us valuable insights about the test and our patient information leaflet. This helped us keep the patient’s interests at the forefront of our minds.

“They also tirelessly obtained valuable patient feedback by calling up patients and gathering detailed perspectives that will inform how the capsule sponge service develops going forward."

The project led to 35 new Barrett’s diagnoses and two cancer diagnoses. Patient feedback was favourable: 73 per cent rated their experience of the procedure as very good or good and 17 rated it as fair.

The PPIE team also continued its Heart Heroes community screening programme to help prevent stroke, carrying out 586 pulse tests, with 45 referrals, and 543 blood pressure checks with 93 referrals.

And in Liverpool it worked with south Asian and Polish community groups to help improve an app, developed by Damibu, for expectant and new parents that gives professional advice to help reduce unnecessary A&E attendances.

The team’s latest project involves gathering feedback from patients and their carers about a digital stroke rehabilitation innovation.

Public Involvement Lead Debbie Parkinson said: “It’s important to make sure the patient’s perspective shapes all our projects. Our role is to see if a particular innovation is accessible to patients, whether they understand it and whether it’s acceptable.

“Smaller companies often don’t have the resources to carry out this kind of work, which is where we can help. And it’s very satisfying to think we’ve supported an innovation that improves outcomes for everyone.”