Digital-CACTUS:
Transforming Healthcare Through Evidence-Based Digital Innovation
Digital-CACTUS addresses one of Europe's most pressing healthcare challenges: effectively caring for the 40% of adults living with long-term conditions and the 25% managing multiple chronic conditions simultaneously. Our comprehensive research program provides health authorities with critical evidence on how to implement digital healthcare solutions that truly serve patients while preserving the human elements of care.
The challenge: Current healthcare systems struggle to manage the growing number of patients with chronic conditions due to four fundamental limitations:
Reactive approach instead of proactive prevention
Disease-centered focus rather than patient-centered care
Fragmented care with poor coordination between specialists
Limited accessibility restricted to business hours and specific locations
While blended care models combining face-to-face and technology-mediated interactions show promise, poor implementation can disrupt workflows, exclude digitally vulnerable populations, and damage crucial patient-clinician relationships.
Digital-CACTUS delivers actionable insights through three integrated research workstreams:
Examining how digital transformation affects patient-clinician relationships (WP1).
Developing an innovative tool to identify where digital solutions can address specific care failures (WP2).
Creating comprehensive implementation guidance through large-scale European surveys (WP3).
Digital-CACTUS empowers healthcare systems with evidence-based strategies to:
Optimize digital healthcare delivery while maintaining care quality
Reduce healthcare system strain through targeted technology implementation
Preserve humanistic care values in an increasingly digital landscape
Improve sustainability for both healthcare systems and patient outcomes
Preserving Humanity in Digital Healthcare
As healthcare embraces digital transformation, fundamental questions arise about the nature of care itself. Work Package 1 explores the balance between technological innovation and the human elements that define quality healthcare. Through qualitative studies with patients and clinicians across Europe, the research captures perspectives on how digital tools are reshaping the therapeutic relationship.
The research examines critical dimensions of care that risk being lost in the digital shift: presence and connection, listening and empathy, attention to individual values and emotions, and understanding of each patient's unique journey. By synthesizing study findings with existing research and validating insights through international surveys, this work package identifies conditions under which digital healthcare can enhance rather than diminish relational aspects of care. This guides healthcare organizations in implementing technology that strengthens the patient-clinician bond while revealing where technology may inadvertently create vulnerabilities or compromise patient autonomy.
Mapping the Patient Experience to Guide Digital Innovation
Healthcare systems often implement digital solutions without fully understanding where patients struggle in their care journeys. Work Package 2 addresses this gap by developing an innovative patient-reported assessment tool that gives voice to patient experiences.
The visual interface empowers patients to dynamically recreate their actual care journeys, marking specific moments where the system failed them. These 'failures in care' encompass the full spectrum of patient burden: exhausting treatment demands, unmet expectations, rushed appointments, coordination breakdowns, and preventable negative consequences. Patients then evaluate whether specific blended care solutions—such as remote monitoring, video consultations, or asynchronous messaging—could have prevented or alleviated each failure, creating an evidence base grounded in real patient experiences.
The resulting validated tool enables healthcare organizations to systematically identify where digital investments will have the greatest impact on patient outcomes, allowing targeted interventions at precise pain points in care delivery.
Creating a Roadmap for Digital Healthcare Implementation
Implementing digital healthcare solutions requires careful consideration of context, as what works effectively for one population or setting may be less suitable for another. Work Package 3 systematically maps how different digital healthcare technologies perform across diverse European healthcare settings.
Using the tool developed in Work Package 2, large-scale international surveys will be conducted with patients living with multiple long-term conditions in primary and secondary care. Data collection accounts for patient characteristics (age, health conditions, health and digital literacy), organizational factors (care setting, workflows), and patient preferences regarding different technologies.
The resulting implementation map provides evidence-based, context-specific guidance addressing practical questions: Which populations benefit most from remote monitoring versus video consultations? How should strategies differ between care settings? What factors indicate unsuitability of particular solutions for certain patient groups? This evidence supports healthcare leaders and policymakers in making informed implementation decisions within their specific contexts.
