Brendan Clarke-Smith MP has welcomed the news that will benefit from the NHS and the government’s backing for nine ground-breaking AI technologies to improve speed and accuracy of diagnoses and tackle waiting lists.
Tens of thousands of patients across the country could benefit from quicker, earlier diagnoses and more effective treatments for a range of conditions – as the government invests nearly £16 million into pioneering artificial intelligence research (AI). Nine companies have been awarded funding through the third round of the AI in Health and Care Awards, which is accelerating the testing and deployment of the most promising AI technologies. The awards were set up in 2019 to develop AI technology focused on helping patients manage long-term conditions, improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis, and ultimately help tackle the Covid backlogs and cut waiting lists.
They are delivered between by the NHS AI Lab, the Accelerated Access Collaborative and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Icometrix have been awarded £1.4 million to develop their AI tool for treatments for people who have multiple sclerosis. Icometrix has a range of tools to assist with the treatment and monitoring of neurological disorders such as brain trauma, epilepsy, stroke, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. This funding will expand the work into multiple sclerosis imaging.
Icobrain MS produces annotated images and prepopulated radiological reports from MRI scans that highlight brain activity to help clinicians determine treatments, known disease modifying therapies, for people who have multiple sclerosis. This project will evaluate whether the AI is more efficient than visual detection by a clinician of MRI disease activity as well as see if it can help clinicians determine better treatments for people with multiple sclerosis.
Icobrain MS will be trialled at Nottingham University Hospitals.
Ibex Medical Analytics has been awarded £1.5 million to develop its AI-driven algorithm that analyses images of breast tissue extracts that helps pathologists determine the presence of cancer, allowing them to complete recordings more quickly. Its high accuracy rate aims to reduce the need for patients to repeat the biopsy process and free up more time for consultants.
Researchers will analyse its findings on 10,000 patients and evaluate improvements in the quality of diagnosis, cost-effectiveness, and quicker turnaround times for patients. Ibex previously won an AI Award in 2020, enabling the roll-out of Galen Prostate – the equivalent technology for prostate cancer – which is used at six hospitals including University College London and University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire.
Ibex technology will be trialled at Nottingham University Hospitals
The winners include AI systems which can help detect cancer, diagnose rare diseases, identify women at highest risk of premature birth and support the treatment of neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis. The funding will be used to support the testing, evaluation, and adoption of their technologies by the NHS.
In total, so far £123 million has been invested in 86 AI technologies across three rounds of awards supporting over 300,000 patients and improving their care and treatment for health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mental health and neurological disorders.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:
“Artificial Intelligence has the potential to speed up diagnoses and treatments and free up time for our doctors and nurses so they can focus on caring for patients. Around 300,000 people have already benefitted from companies supported by our AI awards, with tens of thousands more set to benefit.
“These schemes includes technology that could recognise the signs of cancer more quickly and accurately, predict which women are more likely to give birth prematurely or analyse electronic health records to detect the signs of an undiagnosed rare disease.”