Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in Scotland. The Prostate Cancer Navigator app by Prostate Scotland is to help men with prostate cancer in Scotland navigate living with it. The app gives men and those born biologically male a portable ‘electronic wallet’ packed full of helpful and relevant information. There are tools to assist those living with prostate cancer (and their families) understand and help manage many of the key issues that can arise.

The app has been developed in consultation with men and their families living with prostate cancer as well as clinicians and other experts in prostate cancer in Scotland.

The app includes the following sections:

- A facility for keeping details of appointments tests and results, as well as an ‘electronic pill box’ - a facility for keeping track of one’s medications and when to take them;

- A treatment decision making tool to help anyone newly diagnosed with early prostate cancer. For those newly diagnosed with early prostate cancer it can be a challenging time when faced with making a decision about which treatment to choose. The App has a step-by-step tool to help them consider and understand what is most important to them in their life, giving information about the treatments and enabling them to compare all of these against the treatment choices they have been given. (The tool does not suggest or recommend which treatment might be best for you. It has been designed to help you consider all the facets, make your decision clearer and for you to feel more confident that it is the right choice for you);

- A facility to record consultations with clinicians then listen as many times as you want (permission must be obtained)

- A facility for entering and keeping track of your Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test results and displaying them as a graph;

- A series of practical information and support resources to cover the many issues that can impact you whilst living with prostate cancer including:

a) Details of organisations to support men
b) Information on pelvic floor exercises
c) Managing potential key side effects of treatment including from hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery - such as fatigue, managing pain, urinary and bowel difficulties and erectile dysfunction;
Information about living with prostate cancer and employment, finance and travel and travel insurance.

- A tool to keep track of living with prostate cancer, potential side-effects of their treatment and check for any trends. There is also a special facility to see and monitor potential significant side-effects of treatment (so called red flags) in case you might need to take action or seek help and advice about their impact;

- A special ‘my personal journal’ facility to enable people to keep their key personal health information in one place;

- A place to keep important medical and health care contacts

The app, once downloaded and a personal password set up, is encrypted and personal to the individual and the individual data is not stored remotely and remains solely on the person’s device. The information in the app has been developed based on the position in Scotland and therefore content may not be appropriate for men and their families living other countries.  

The app has been developed by and for Prostate Scotland - (a Scottish registered charity -registered number SC037494) thanks to the very kind assistance and generosity of the Francis A. Connolly Trust.

Prostate Scotland

Additional Information