Artificial intelligence (AI) that can help clinicians diagnose lung cancer quickly and accurately is being rolled out in Teesside – after the Trust was successful with a funding bid.
The £21million government funding is being allocated to more than 60 NHS trusts across all regions of the country so they can deploy AI tools that analyse X-rays and CT scans, speeding up diagnosis and treatments for patients.
With over 600,000 chest X-rays performed each month in England, the deployment of this technology to more NHS trusts will support clinicians in their work with quicker, more accurate diagnosis of conditions.
Gail Griffiths, operations manager in radiology at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding, as part of a regional bid to improve the speed we can treat diagnostic patients.
“It means we can invest in a software package on our medical imaging viewer system (PACS), to be used to analyse chest images before reporting.
“It is important to note that it will not report an image itself – but it will help our highly skilled and experienced clinicians to identify anomalies before a full radiological report. It can also be used as a tool to prioritise the most urgent images and ensure these are seen first.
“We hope to receive the package by the end of March next year, as part of a regional roll-out.
“This will help improve the quality of care we provide to our patients – giving them outcomes to any health issues at the very earliest time. An earlier diagnosis to an issue means earlier treatment and improved outcomes for our patients.”