Empowering Cancer Support with Confidence: Trusted Quality Assurance for a Critical Launch

Our Client

Cancer Central is a young non-profit social enterprise with a big mission. They are the first award-winning HealthTech cancer platform using AI to guide people affected by cancer to the support and information they need. The initiative began with a fundraiser to support founder Avril Chester in launching the first iteration of the site.  Roq has supported Cancer Central since 2018, from consultation to development of the platform. 

The Client Challenge 

To deliver a high-stakes platform update on time and with confidence, Cancer Central needed to: 

• Validate complex, business-critical functionality such as the “Ask Ave” chatbot and NHS API integrations. 

• Protect the experience for vulnerable users, ensuring features worked reliably under all conditions. 

• Overcome limited internal testing capacity, with few in-house resources dedicated to QA. 

• Manage risk in a compressed timeline, using pragmatic strategies that maximised impact under pressure. 

What We Delivered 

Through Roq’s Delivery Augmentation Solution, we embedded quality assurance expertise directly into the project team, delivering: 

• A risk-based test strategy, prioritising validation of high-impact areas including “Ask Ave” and NHS APIs. 

• Hands-on QA support, including functional testing, exploratory testing, and issue triage during daily code drops. 

• Manual regression packs, tailored for reuse and supporting faster, safer releases. 

• Process and lifecycle improvements, identifying duplication and filling gaps across the delivery flow. 

• Lightweight CI/CD-style engagement, adapting to a fast-moving, volunteer-led team structure. 

• Ongoing governance and consultation, supporting planning meetings and sprint prioritisation with expert insight. 

Working with Roq gives us huge comfort!

Knowing we had the team trying to break the site as we delivered components, meant we had a fresh pair of expert eyes on the case. Roq always spots something we miss and always gives great feedback on how we can continually improve the experience.

They always provide ideas with how we can continuously improve the experience of the site and are a complete joy to work with, which makes project meetings a real hoot. Everyone I have met at Roq is thoughtful, thorough, dedicated and a complete joy to work with. The dedication and support for Cancer Central is incredible. I am personally so thankful and grateful for all Roq has done and is doing. 

Founder of Cancer Central, Avril Chester. 

CLIENT IMPACT 

As a result of this work, Cancer Central was able to: 

• Go live with confidence, knowing critical features were working as expected and major issues had been caught early. 

• Reduce delivery risk, by focusing testing effort where it mattered most and preventing late-stage surprises. 

• Build long-term capability, with reusable assets and stronger internal processes to support future releases. 

• Maintain trust and momentum, delivering a digital tool that continues to receive positive feedback from its community 

Key to me is the team’s ability to openly question. Sometimes even I get bogged down in the detail and lose sight of what we are trying to achieve, and their ability to question and validate the ‘why?’ is compelling. This, coupled with their empathy and responsiveness, makes for a good team fit. I will always look to use the Roq team, as I have found them to be the best testers. 

Non-Executive Director and Chief Commercial Officer, Mathew Mallett. 

To find out how Roq’s Delivery Augmentation Solution can support your business, contact our experts at ask@roq.co.uk.