People in north east London who undergo chest X-rays will receive their results much sooner, following the rollout of an AI tool to help boost lung cancer survival rates.
North East Cancer Alliance (NELCA) is using the technology to help radiologists and reporting radiographers prioritise urgent cases and enhance decision-making.
By rolling out AI-driven triage to local hospitals, NELCA aims to cut the waiting time for X-ray results from three weeks to just three days for scans with significant findings. This will ensure signs of lung cancer can be detected more quickly and enable patients who need follow-up or treatment to receive timely care – potentially boosting survival rates. It will also provide peace of mind sooner for patients where nothing is found on their scan.
The software is now available to specialist teams at all major acute hospitals across north east London under a collaboration between Barts Health NHS Trust, Barking, Havering, and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, imaging IT provider Sectra and health tech company Qure.ai.
It is being used to assist – rather than replace – specialist teams and is aligned to NHS England’s national optimal lung cancer pathway guidelines to provide confidence for healthcare staff and maintain the highest levels of patient safety and care.
North east London is currently facing significant workforce challenges and a sharp rise in demand for chest X-rays but using AI to prioritise urgent cases is also helping to reduce overall waiting times by cutting the workload for hospital staff and saving clinical resources. Latest figures show there were 270,000 X-rays in north east London in 2022 – up from 139,080 in 2017 – at a time when the UK is facing a 29% shortfall in radiologists.
Oliver Hawkins, Senior Project Manager for North East London Cancer Alliance, said: “Using AI is helping us to revolutionise diagnostic pathways in north east London and this means we are able to improve clinical decision-making and enhance patient outcomes while at the same time ensuring better use of local NHS resources.
“It has been great working with Qure.ai and Sectra to deliver the project. It’s a key step to improving survival rates by providing faster, more accurate diagnoses.”
Surabhi Srivastava, Head of UK Business at Qure.ai, said: “We’re delighted to be working with North East London Cancer Alliance to optimise its radiology workflow and diagnostic lung cancer pathway with AI. Identifying suspicious signs of lung cancer such as nodules or masses on chest X-rays will help move patients into the next step of the diagnostic journey quicker, potentially improving survival with faster and earlier diagnosis.”
“This commercial deployment is a true partnership of AI activation, working closely with the Alliance, its hospitals and Sectra, to balance clinical considerations, information governance, AI integration into existing healthcare IT systems. Once live, as an AI partner, we move onto user training and patient awareness,” she adds.
Chris Scarisbrick, Customer Operations Director and Deputy Managing Director at Sectra UK, said: “At Sectra, we are proud to see the successful deployment of our Amplifier Service alongside the Qure.ai qXR AI application within the North East London Cancer Alliance. Our service’s marketplace and open approach to application integration streamlines AI adoption, embedding it seamlessly into radiology workflows.
“This collaboration showcases how a fully integrated AI-driven workflow can transform diagnostic efficiency. By seamlessly embedding AI into existing radiology pathways, we ensure that urgent cases are prioritised swiftly, helping to reduce reporting delays and improve patient outcomes. This is a key step in optimising clinical resources and providing faster, more accurate diagnoses, all while maintaining a seamless experience for healthcare providers.”
To highlight the benefits of the AI to patients in north east London, and the rest of the country, NELCA is supporting evaluations of the rollout a local and national level.
