UK to Spend £20m Expanding AI Chest X-Ray Tools to All NHS Trusts by 2029
The Department of Health will fund wider use of AI tools that have already shortened chest X-ray reporting from eight days to four. An £8 million pilot will test the technology for heart failure, strokes and lung cancer at 13 NHS sites.
The IndependentThe UK Department of Health has allocated £20 million to expand AI analysis of chest X-rays to every NHS trust in England by 2029. Approximately half of trusts already use the technology. Government figures show the system has delivered faster lung cancer diagnoses or reassuring results for more than four million patients.
Data from 25 trusts indicate radiologists now review scans in an average of four days. Previously, the most complex cases took eight days. The government is also launching an £8 million pilot across 13 NHS organisations to test AI for faster care in heart failure, strokes and lung cancer.
Peter Allinson, a 59-year-old hill walker from Manchester, was referred to Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust after severe breathlessness on a hike. Assessed with the AI tool, he received a sarcoidosis diagnosis and began treatment within two weeks.
