Following the recent maternity scandal, positive news about care for England’s babies was much needed. A ‘new life-saving test that allows doctors to spot a rare form of eye cancer in babies in the womb is being rolled out by the NHS in England’, alongside new AI technologies that are being used to reduce overall disparities in maternity care.

The new test, developed at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, can identify babies at risk of developing retinoblastoma so that they can be monitored and treated sooner. Retinoblastoma is usually hard to detect, meaning that a diagnosis is usually only made once the tumour has progressed to a stage where the eye cannot be treated. This new non-invasive test will help improve the chances of saving babies’ sight and, ultimately, their lives.

Alongside this promising new test, further progress in cancer care and detection has made for a promising shift away from oncology’s struggles during the pandemic.

Cancer check referrals

In the past 12 months, nearly three million people were referred for cancer checks. This is the highest figure on record, smashing even the pre-pandemic figure of 2.4 million people.

Despite this rapid climb, the NHS is still urging more people to come forward. This is because, during the pandemic, there were concerning drops in people presenting for screenings:

‘One key finding identified a concerning 44.1% reduction in the number of women screened for breast cancer between 2020 and 2021, from 2.12 million in 2020 to 1.19 million in 2021, the lowest levels observed since 2011.’

As a result of this previous decline, NHS screening programmes still have a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully, cancer check referrals will continue to climb and more people will continue to make the most of invitations to screening programmes across the country.

However, this is not a problem unique to the pandemic. In 2017, 1 in 3 women aged 25-29 in Buckinghamshire did not attend their cervical cancer screening. Improving uptake of screenings has been an uphill battle and trusts are still regularly working to impress the benefits on the public.

If you receive an invite for a cancer screening or test, attend or send back the requested sample at your earliest convenience. Just a few minutes could save your life.

Lung MOTs

Hundreds of people have been diagnosed with lung cancer earlier through NHS mobile trucks parked up at various locations across the country. As part of the biggest programme to improve early lung cancer diagnosis in the health service’s history, people have been able to get lung checkups in travelling trucks – you may have even seen one parked in the car park of your local supermarket. These ‘lung MOTs’ have helped the NHS make 600 earlier diagnoses, improving outcomes for patients who may not have been aware of their cancer until it had progressed.

These earlier diagnoses are directly improving lives as ‘people diagnosed with lung cancer at the earliest stage are nearly 20 times more likely to survive for five years than those whose cancer is caught late.’ So far, the scheme has caught 77% of lung cancers caught at either stage one or two, greatly increasing the chance of positive outcomes.

This new scheme was prompted by an alarming statistic that revealed only 35% of patients go to their lung health check when invited by the NHS. It’s far easier to pop to a mobile test truck near your home than it is to attend a hospital, and it is hoped that removing barriers to attendance will help increase test uptake further. Focusing on current or ex-smokers, this targeted programme is reaching those who are most at risk.

If you believe you have symptoms of lung cancer, do not wait to be called up for a screening test and contact your health provider as soon as possible.

Wearable devices in cancer care

On top of these major milestones, there have also been developments in wearable technology to support patients undergoing cancer treatments. A study launched in January is exploring how wearable devices – namely the FDA-approved Withings ScanWatch, the Oura smart ring, and the Isansys system – can be used to monitor patients after cancer treatment.

The EMBRaCE (Enhanced Monitoring for Better Recovery and Cancer Experience) trial is initially for blood, lung, and colorectal cancer patients in the Greater Manchester area, providing ‘new insights into how people cope with cancer treatment and what we can do to improve their recovery.’

This move towards constant monitoring instead of episodic measurements represents an overall trajectory that much of the healthcare sector is following. Applications to the cancer space are, however, relatively new and this is an exciting development that has great potential benefits for the wider population.