NHS to receive £250m for new AI lab
The NHS will receive a £250 million ($303m) investment to develop a new National AI Lab, which will use the technology to improve patient health, the UK government has announced.
The lab will bring together the industry’s top academics, specialists and technology companies to counter some of the biggest challenges in healthcare, the Department of Health (DoH) said earlier today, August 8.
A spokesperson for the department told LSIPR the funding will come directly from the treasury and will be available from the beginning of the 2020/2021 financial year.
Specifically, the lab will focus on earlier cancer detection and new dementia treatments, as well as building on AI already being developed in some hospitals to predict cancer survival rates.
Additionally, the DoH said the lab could improve cancer screening by speeding up results of tests such as brain scans, eye scans and heart monitoring.
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the AI lab “could transform patient experience by making the NHS a truly predictive, preventive and personalised health and care service”.
The AI technology will help identify those patients most at risk of diseases such as heart disease and dementia. This would allow for earlier diagnosis and cheaper, more focused, personalised prevention, the announcement said.
The lab will also build systems to detect those at risk of post-operative complications, infections or requiring follow-up from clinicians.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said the AI lab will ensure the benefits of NHS innovation are fully harnessed for patients in the country.
“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,” Stevens said.
The lab, which will sit within NHSX, the new organisation that will oversee the digitisation of the health and care system, will also develop predictive models to better estimate future needs of beds, drugs, devices or surgeries.
The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said transforming care through AI will aid the NHS in making a “real difference to the lives of patients”.
The NHS is “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,” Johnson said.
Tim Ensor, the director of AI at Cambridge Consultants, said that while the NHS is perfectly placed to use AI to improve healthcare, it should not spend this money on developing their own AI algorithms.
“There are many companies and institutions in the UK with proven capability to develop AI algorithms supporting new healthcare services. The key component, which only the NHS can provide, is well-managed access to patient and hospital operations data,” Ensor said.
He added that the scale and unique circumstances of the NHS makes it “perfectly placed to use AI to improve healthcare”.
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