OBJECTIVES – Women’s Integrated Support for Hormonal Health

About Us

WISH project is developing and evaluating a new approach to follow-up for women with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer who are receiving adjuvant hormonal treatment.

WISH brings follow-up closer to primary and community care while maintaining a strong connection with oncology services. Through a shared digital platform, women, general practitioners and oncology teams will be able to contribute to a personalised follow-up pathway.

Our Vision

WISH envisions a future in which every woman receiving hormonal treatment after early breast cancer has access to coordinated, personalised and continuous support.

The project is developing and testing a shared-care approach that connects women, general practitioners and oncology teams through a common follow-up pathway supported by digital tools. Women will be able to report symptoms and changes in their well-being, follow personalised health goals and remain actively involved in their care.

Healthcare professional teams remain connected and available when specialist input is needed. By combining clinical expertise, primary care, patient-reported information and lifestyle support, WISH aims to create a model of follow-up that is more responsive to women’s needs, more efficient for healthcare systems and adaptable across different European settings.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Hormonal treatment may continue for several years. During this period, women may experience treatment-related effects and changes in physical, emotional and social well-being.

Traditional follow-up is often organised around periodic hospital visits, making it difficult to identify and address all needs as they arise.

There is therefore a need for a more connected, accessible and person-centred model of follow-up—one that supports women throughout treatment, strengthens collaboration between healthcare professionals and brings appropriate care closer to home.

WISH WORK PACKAGES

Ensuring effective coordination, quality, compliance and collaboration across the WISH project.

Led by ICS Maugeri (ICSM), WP1 will coordinate the scientific, administrative and financial implementation of WISH throughout the project.
It will establish the project governance structures and support effective collaboration among all partners. WP1 will oversee project progress, quality assurance, milestones and reporting. It will coordinate data management in accordance with FAIR principles and GDPR requirements.
The WP will also identify and manage potential risks and it will ensure that WISH complies with relevant ethical, legal and scientific requirements.

Tasks

Administrative management(ICSM; all partners)
Scientific management(ICSM; all partners)

Transforming the needs of patients and healthcare professionals into the clinical, functional and technical foundations of WISH.

Led by Klaipėda University (KU), WP2 will define the requirements for the digitally supported WISH follow-up model. It will identify the needs of patients and healthcare professionals related to long-term hormonal treatment, quality of life, treatment adherence and care coordination. Patients, oncologists, GPs, nurses and other stakeholders will contribute through focus groups, interviews and co-design activities. WP2 will define the key functions needed for symptom monitoring, follow-up coordination and patient empowerment. It will also develop an evidence-based personalised lifestyle intervention addressing areas such as physical activity, nutrition, cardiovascular and bone health. The findings will be translated into clinical, technical and AI requirements for the development of the WISH Digital Platform.

Tasks:

Literature review and clinical requirements definition(KU; all partners)
Stakeholder Engagement and Co-Design(KU; all partners)
Personalized Lifestyle Intervention Plan(KU; ICSM, FIMABIS-HUCS, NTNU)
Technical and AI Requirements Definition(UNIPV; KU, HES-SO, ARX)

Developing the secure digital platform that connects patients, primary care and oncology within the WISH follow-up model.

Led by the University of Pavia (UNIPV), WP3 will develop and deploy the WISH Digital Platform. The platform will allow patients, GPs, oncologists and other authorised professionals to collaborate around personalised follow-up plans. WP3 will develop user-friendly interfaces, digital questionnaires, alerts, notifications and tools for accessing relevant patient information. The platform will be integrated with participating hospital information systems using recognised interoperability standards. AI-supported components will help monitor follow-up progress, identify relevant patient-reported concerns and support healthcare professionals with recommendations.

Tasks:

Platform implementation and deployment(UNIPV; all partners)
HIS integration(UNIPV; HES-SO, ARX, UNIPV, ICSM, FIMABIS-HUCS)
AI module implementation(HES-SO; all partners)
Management of the IT solutions and user support(UNIPV; HES-SO, ARX)

Evaluating the WISH follow-up model in real healthcare settings and generating evidence on its effectiveness, acceptability and sustainability.

Led by ICS Maugeri (ICSM) and co-led by FIMABIS–Hospital Universitario Costa del Sol, WP4 will design and implement the WISH multicentre randomised clinical study in Italy and Spain. It will compare WISH-supported, community-based follow-up with standard hospital-based follow-up for women receiving hormonal treatment for early breast cancer. WP4 will coordinate the study protocol, ethical approvals, recruitment and training of participating patients and healthcare professionals. The main clinical outcome will be quality of life at 12 months. Clinical, statistical and health-economic analyses will provide evidence on the effectiveness and sustainability of the WISH model.

Tasks:

Study protocol and ethical approval(ICSM, FIMABIS-HUCS)
GPs and patients recruitment(FIMABIS-HUCS, ICSM)
App training(KU; ICSM, FIMABIS-HUCS, UNIPV, NTNU)
Clinical study implementation(ICSM; FIMABIS-HUCS)
Periodic evaluation of the User Experience and requirements(UNIPV; ICSM, FIMABIS-HUCS, KU)
Statistical Analysis and clinical Evaluations(UNIPV; ICSM, FIMABIS-HUCS)

Maximising the visibility, uptake and long-term impact of WISH beyond the project itself.

Led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), WP5 will ensure that WISH results reach the people and organisations that can use them. It will identify key exploitable results and develop strategies for their sustainability, transfer and potential uptake across healthcare systems.
WP5 will engage healthcare authorities, policy-makers, patient organisations, SMEs and other relevant stakeholders to support future implementation of the WISH model. Communication activities will make WISH accessible to patients, healthcare professionals, scientific community and the wider public. The WP will also develop policy recommendations and a roadmap supporting the scalability and longer-term adoption of WISH.

Tasks: