The AI Lab will bring
together the industry’s best academics, specialists and
technology companies to work on some of the biggest
challenges in health and care, including earlier cancer
detection, new dementia treatments and more personalised
care.
AI is
already being developed in some hospitals, successfully
predicting cancer survival rates and cutting the number of
missed appointments.
The AI Lab’s work could:
- improve cancer screening by speeding up the results of
tests, including mammograms, brain scans, eye scans and
heart monitoring
- use predictive models to better estimate future needs
of beds, drugs, devices or surgeries
- identify which patients could be more easily treated in
the community, reducing the pressure on the NHS and helping
patients receive treatment closer to home
- identify patients most at risk of diseases such as
heart disease or dementia, allowing for earlier diagnosis
and cheaper, more focused, personalised prevention
- build systems to detect people at risk of
post-operative complications, infections or requiring
follow-up from clinicians, improving patient safety and
reducing readmission rates
- upskill the NHS workforce so they can
use AI systems for
day-to-day tasks
- inspect algorithms already used by the NHS to increase
the standards of AIsafety, making systems
fairer, more robust and ensuring patient confidentiality is
protected
- automate routine admin tasks to free up clinicians so
more time can be spent with patients
The lab will sit within NHSX, the new organisation that
will oversee the digitisation of the health and care
system, in partnership with the Accelerated Access
Collaborative.
The investment will support the ambitions in the NHS Long
Term Plan, which includes pledges to use AI to help clinicians
eliminate variations in care.
The Prime Minister said:
The NHS is revered for the world-class care it provides
every day – a treasured institution that showcases the
very best of Britain.
But it is also leading the way in harnessing new
technology to treat and prevent, from earlier cancer
detection to spotting the deadly signs of dementia.
Today’s funding is not just about the future of care
though. It will also boost the frontline by automating
admin tasks and freeing up staff to care for patients.
My task is to ensure the NHS has the funding it needs to
make a real difference to the lives of staff and
patients. Transforming care through artificial
intelligence is a perfect illustration of that.
Health Secretary said:
We are on the cusp of a huge health tech revolution that
could transform patient experience by making the NHS a
truly predictive, preventive and personalised health and
care service.
I am determined to bring the benefits of technology to
patients and staff, so the impact of our NHS Long Term
Plan and this immediate, multimillion pound cash
injection are felt by all. It’s part of our mission to
make the NHS the best it can be.
The experts tell us that because of our NHS and our tech
talent, the UK could be the world leader in these
advances in healthcare, so I’m determined to give the NHS
the chance to be the world leader in saving lives through
artificial intelligence and genomics.
Simon Stevens, NHS England Chief Executive, said:
Carefully targeted AI is now ready for
practical application in health services, and the
investment announced today is another step in the right
direction to help the NHS become a world leader in using
these important technologies.
In the first instance it should help personalise NHS
screening and treatments for cancer, eye disease and a
range of other conditions, as well as freeing up staff
time, and our new NHS AI Lab will ensure
the benefits of NHS data and innovation are fully
harnessed for patients in this country.
