Transforming Cancer Care: Unveiling the smartCARE App Prototype for Survivors

The smartCARE project proudly announces the launch of its Cancer Survivor Smart Card prototype, a groundbreaking digital tool designed to empower individuals living with and beyond cancer.

This milestone event, held in Brussels on 22 November 2024 represents a significant advancement in the smartCARE initiative, co-funded by the European Union under the EU4Health Programme (2021–2027).

Developed through collaboration with leading healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and, most importantly, cancer survivors themselves, the Cancer Survivor Smart Card addresses critical challenges faced by survivors. These include managing late effects, side effects, complications, co-morbidities, and psychosocial challenges stemming from their treatment journey.

What sets this innovation apart is its survivor-centred approach. By incorporating direct input from a diverse group of cancer survivors, the tool is uniquely tailored to meet their real-world needs, ensuring relevance and usability.

The launch of this prototype marks an important step toward transforming the care experience for cancer survivors across Europe.

The Cancer Survivor Smart Card prototype offers an array of thoughtfully designed features and functionalities, prioritised by patients and survivors themselves, to address their most pressing needs. These include:

Module 1: MyHealth offers patients and survivors secure access to manage and share their medical data with healthcare professionals. Key features include Medical Data Management, Comprehensive Summaries, Symptom & Medication Tracking, Appointment Scheduling, Logbook Functionality and Survivorship Passport Integration.

This all-in-one solution empowers users with control over their health information, enabling better communication with healthcare professionals and supporting their overall well-being no matter where they are.

Module 2: Telehealth enables users to access remote medical advice and consultations, offering convenience and flexibility for managing ongoing health conditions and routine follow- ups. Designed to enhance communication, this module complements rather than replaces face- to-face appointments.

Module 3: Resources provides seamless access to a wealth of reliable cancer-related information, ensuring users have the support they need at their fingertips. The resource library now features an innovative Personalised Resource Recommender System (PRRS), designed to enhance user experience by recommending content tailored to individual preferences.

To further support the system’s functionality and accommodate the increasing volume of resources, a comprehensive signposting system has been proposed. This addition aims to streamline access to content and optimise the user experience.

Module 4: Community offers a supportive platform for individuals living with or beyond cancer to connect, share personal stories, and provide emotional support. This space encourages mutual support and the exchange of experiences among users.

“As a psycho-oncology professional and caregiver, I’ve long been waiting for an app like this. smartCARE gives cancer patients and survivors a precious opportunity for networking and professional support. So many much-needed resources will now be at their fingertips,” – said Prof. Csaba Dégi, ECO President and Co-Chair of the smartCARE Steering Committee.

“It was very important to make the app tailored to different ages of users. That’s why we organised separate workshops for paediatrics, adults and adolescents from many countries in Europe. I am very pleased that the future app has a wide range of functionalities and that it will be easy to use for older people as well,” – said Penilla Gunther, President of the European Patient Safety Foundation and Co-Chair of the smartCARE Steering Committee.

The smartCARE Showcase Event included a live demonstration and a feedback session with cancer survivors, healthcare providers, and stakeholders. Their insights will be instrumental in refining the app and preparing it for broader testing and implementation.

The prototype of the Cancer Survivor Smart Card has already undergone thorough testing and validation to ensure it will effectively meet the needs of its users. Additionally, a set of recommendations for the app’s future development has been included in the smartCARE blueprint document. This achievement is part of the smartCARE project, which involves the smartCARE Consortium and the app developer, Bilbomatica Consortium.

The smartCARE project is run by a 41-organisation consortium coordinated by the European Cancer Organisation (ECO).

smartCARE is an EU-funded project that is tasked with developing a ‘Cancer Survivor Smart Card.’ This digital tool decreases the communication gap between survivors and health and social-care providers. These providers promote citizen empowerment through patient- and survivor-centred care and ultimately enhance the quality of life of cancer survivors.

SIOP Europe is the Work Package lead for Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of smartCARE.