Business operations manager Tim Atkins told us why winning an award has proved a game changer.

Congratulations on winning the NSW Excellence in Innovation award! How did the team react?

We’re completely humbled by the win. CancerAid has an important and challenging mission to increase patient engagement and thereby improve patient health outcomes. Winning at the state level is amazing recognition of the progress we’ve made.

Can you give us a snapshot of the business?

CancerAid launched in 2015. It was founded by 2 oncologists to address the barriers in cancer care.

The founders saw that their more engaged and supported patients were tracking better over time compared to those that were less engaged and less supported.

The challenge was, How do we proactively democratise these support structures across all patients? And so the CancerAid app and coach program was born.

Our goal is to educate, support and motivate patients to take back control of their cancer diagnosis. Encouraging patients to become active participants in their own healthcare has, and will always be, our primary motivation as a team. This mission has helped us grow CancerAid to where it is today.

You first won at the Sydney City Region Business Awards in July. What has the win meant for the business?

It reinforced to our team that its hard work is having an impact on cancer patient care, and the healthcare industry more broadly.

Why did the company decide to enter the awards?

We’re immensely proud of our work in the cancer care space. We saw the awards as an ideal platform to showcase our work.

We also saw it as an opportunity to build our network of partners, which ultimately improves the health outcomes for a greater number of people.

How do you think awards can help local businesses to grow?

Awards have the capacity to raise the profile and build legitimacy for local businesses.

Local businesses can leverage the recognition to grow networks and build trust with both consumers and businesses. The flow-on effects can be very powerful.

The recognition has helped us build CancerAid's profile and reputation in the business world – and for that we’re very grateful.

What message about your business would you like to share?

CancerAid is making a real difference in patient engagement, and we’re always looking for opportunities to partner with organisations to help a greater number of patients.

Our initial pilot showed a 7-fold increase in patients accessing rehabilitation services, and a 4.25 increase in patients tracking symptoms. We’re now looking for opportunities to work with organisations to build research studies based on clinically and economically valuable metrics. Get in touch if you’d like to join us!

The NSW Business Chamber Awards 2019 were presented on Friday 22 November.