A new AI Diagnostic Fund of £21m has been announced by Steve Barclay, the Health and Social Care Secretary, aiming to help speed up diagnosis for conditions such as cancers, strokes and heart conditions. The funding is ring-fenced.
NHS Trusts will be able to apply to the fund to accelerate the deployment of the most promising AI imaging and decision support tools. The Health and Social Care Secretary has also committed to rolling out AI stroke-diagnosis technology to 100% of stroke networks by the end of 2023 - up from 86% today. In some cases, the use of AI is halving the time for stroke patients to get the treatment they need by enabling doctors to diagnose stroke faster. This has been shown to triple the chance of patients living independently after a stroke.
Steve Barclay says: “Artificial intelligence is already transforming the way we deliver healthcare and AI tools are already making a significant impact across the NHS in diagnosing conditions earlier, meaning people can be treated more quickly.”
This new fund will also include the use of AI tools to analyse chest X-Rays - the most common tool used to diagnose lung cancer - which is the leading cause of cancer death in the UK. With over 600,000 chest X-rays performed each month in England, the deployment of diagnostic AI tools to more NHS Trusts will support clinicians to diagnose cancer patients earlier, improving patient outcomes.
The £21 million funding will be open for bids for any AI diagnostic tool that Trusts want to deploy, but will have to represent value for money for the funding to be approved.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Chloe Smith, adds: “Improving diagnosis and speeding up treatments for patients through AI is a game-changer. The application of AI across the NHS is supported by our balanced regulatory approach and has the potential to be truly transformative, both for patients and our unrivalled health and social care workforce both now and in the decades to come.
“Nothing could be a more fitting celebration of its 75th anniversary than a demonstration of how the NHS remains at the cutting edge of modern day technology and innovation.”
The government also recently announced a new AI & Digital Regulation Service to help NHS staff find the right information and guidance when it comes to deploying AI devices safely*. This has made it easier for developers and adopters of AI to understand regulations governing AI in the NHS and is saving them time in bringing products to market.
For medical technology alone, the NHS spends £10 billion a year and the global market is forecast to reach £150 billion next year. Access to new technologies means patients benefit enormously, with breakthroughs enabling prevention of ill-health, earlier diagnosis, more effective treatments, and faster recovery.
* The World Health Organization has recently cautioned over the use of AI-generated large language model tools, such as ChatGPT, Bard, Bert and many others, warning that rigorous oversight is necessary for these to be used safely, effectively and ethically. Read the full story here.
