SCOTCAP
A service, technical and business transformation programme to support the national scale up of Colon Capsule Endoscopy (CCE) as a GI Diagnostic Test in Scotland. SCOTCAP
A service, technical and business transformation programme to support the national scale up of Colon Capsule Endoscopy (CCE) as a GI Diagnostic Test in Scotland. SCOTCAP
The Scottish Capsule Programme (SCOTCAP) is an integral part of the national redesign of outpatient gastroenterology services as it enables early and effective screening in the community, avoiding unnecessary referrals for hospital outpatient appointments.
SCOTCAP was endorsed by the Programme for Government 2018/19 and is a large scale evaluation project undertaken in NHS Highland, NHS Grampian and NHS Western Isles.
SCOTCAP Service Evaluation was embedded within the CCE service, rolled out across three Health Board Regions, and was a multi-centre service evaluation of patients (presenting with GI symptoms to their GP and patients waiting for colonoscopy).
The aim of the evaluation was to explore the efficiency, acceptability and effectiveness of a new Managed Service Delivery Model when deployed across three Health Board areas across the North of Scotland, and to generate recommendations for further adoption and scale up. The Evaluation Phase of the SCOTCAP project concluded in March 2020.
CCE is a procedure which involves swallowing a capsule the size of a vitamin Pill. The capsule contains a digital camera which is swallowed and, on its journey, takes up to 400,000 images (32 per second), which are remotely reviewed and analysed. It is highly accurate, with the potential to be cost effective, less invasive, and more acceptable to patients, than existing procedures. It is not currently routinely used in Scotland for large Bowel investigations and could potentially be a viable and safe alternative to traditional colonoscopy.
This is recognised to be an ambitious programme of work testing boundaries and exploring the acceleration of innovation in Scotland. Fundamental to the success of this work was to bring together like-minded innovation partners from across sectors to drive forward the testing and evaluation of an Innovative Service Model Using Colon Capsule Endoscopy (CCE) in a real-world setting.
I think it is going to be another sweet in the sweet shop, another tool in the toolbox...
One of the unique business innovation aspects of the project is the creation of Scotland's first Innovation Partnership procurement contract across NHS Scotland. This has enabled commissioning bodies to "partner" and work collaboratively with private sector companies to both develop and test a new service within the community. Significantly, these services could be rolled out across Scotland without the need for a further procurement if the evaluation proved successful. In addition, this project tested and refined the business model working with the industry partner to create a successful managed service and secure further inward investment and economic development in the North of Scotland.
Delivery of a Service Evaluation of CCE in Scotland reaching over 450 patients and corresponding Service Evaluation
This involved facilitation, co-design, service design and change management expertise to ensure that service, technical and business innovation barriers were identified and overcome;
Academic Evaluation Reports from the University of Strathclyde examining patient acceptability and experience have been published reflecting positive outcomes and key recommendations to support wider scaling up across Scotland.
Supporting partners by increasing Service Readiness Levels; undertaking a series of one-to-one interviews and insight driven service design workshops with SCOTCAP stakeholders to capture key learning from the Innovation phase to further inform the service and business case;
Production of an interactive Service Model Blueprint and Report to support the next phase of implementation, the ‘Adoption Phase’.
The SCOTCAP Programme has been shortlisted for the Life Sciences Partnership Collaboration Award and won the 2019 Scottish Digital Health and Care Innovation Award, recognising excellence in this domain and partnership working with the service and industry. For 2020, SCOTCAP has been Shortlisted for the Holyrood Connect Innovation Award.
I think the procedure would be very helpful to patients in the future, enabling them to be diagnosed near home and not have to travel the long distance to Raigmore Hospital.
AI-Supported Image Analysis in Large Bowel Camera Capsule Endoscopy (AICE) is a £6 million transformative digital health project funded by Horizon Europe.
Led by a dynamic partnership of researchers and experts across 12 European organisations, AICE aims to simplify the way we detect colon cancer via an AI-assisted patient pathway that enables high-quality diagnostics, considers patient preferences, and is ethical and economical.
As seen with the ScotCap programme, at present images captured by colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) are reviewed by trained doctors. But AI offers the potential to speed up the process safely and ethically, making it more cost-effective, increase its use, and reduce waiting lists.
Furthermore, the AICE patient pathway will incorporate AI at the start of the process by analysing various factors and indicators, such as medical history, risk factors, and prior test results, to identify patients who would benefit most from CCE. As such, during the four-year AICE project, the multidisciplinary team will cover aspects such as validation and development of algorithms, the creation of a clinical support platform, clinical indications and guidelines, patient engagement (PREM and App), cost-efficiency, ethical considerations, and future implementation strategies.
The expected benefits include earlier initiation of treatment, less advanced staged cancers, fewer complications related to the diagnostic procedure, better patient acceptability and compliance, and a significant reduction in costs from both diagnostics and treatment. It also has potential to reduce the capacity pressures NHS health boards across the UK are experiencing.
Find out more at aiceproject.eu