Real-time impact modelling of cancer transformation funding

Working in collaboration with the NHS, Edge Health developed and piloted a novel methodology for tracking indicators on the impact of cancer transformation funding on early diagnosis, impact and expected survival rates.

The aim of the pilot was to develop a framework to rapidly evaluate the benefit of transformation funding on cancer outcomes. For cancer this means survival rates, which are typically hard to measure in real-time due to lags in the recording of ‘staging data’ (i.e. what stage of cancer a patient presents with on their initial contact). This can mean the impact of investment is known years later, when it is too late to make changes, such as committing additional investment to programmes that are delivering beyond expectations.

Using routinely available data, Edge developed a novel methodology that allowed the stage of cancer and expected survival rates to be approximated in real-time. This helped to establish the impact of the transformation programme at an early stage, so that its successes could be quantified and return on investment established and tracked.