10 medium stage health tech suppliers have been successful in the AI in Health and Care Award programme, part of the NHS AI Lab.
The suppliers form part of 42 successful projects announced today to receive funding across four phases. The 10 suppliers in phase 4 includes medium stage AI technologies that have market authorisation but insufficient evidence to merit large-scale commissioning or deployment.
The NHS AI Lab was announced by Matt Hancock last year aimed to play a key role in delivering innovations across health and care.
The NHS AI Lab tests and helps scale AI products and is backed by £250m in funding from the Department for Health and Social Care. The Award is run by the Accelerated Access Collaborative in partnership with NHSX and the National Institute for Health Research. It will make £140 million available over three years to accelerate the testing and evaluation of AI technologies which meet the strategic aims of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Following over 500 applications to the competition, 10 successful suppliers have been named as part of phase 4 of the programme today:
- Veye – Aidence
An AI platform to optimise oncology pathways, which can be integrated into existing software systems. Veye Chest, the first clinical application, is unique in its ability to currently automate early lung cancer detection, and soon also support treatment response assessment. - e-Stroke Suite – Brainomix Ltd
A set of tools that uses AI methods to interpret acute stroke brain scans, and helps doctors make decisions about treatment and the need for specialist transfer of patients with confidence. It also provides a platform for doctors to share information between hospitals in real-time avoiding the delays that can occur. - RITA: Referral Intelligence and Triage Automation – Deloitte
An AI solution to automate the triage of GP referrals – assessing the urgency and next step for the referral and sending through directly to the next step in the process. In addition the solution includes a virtual assistant that supports clinicians in writing letters back to GPs, significantly speeding up this process. - Smartphone albuminuria self-testing – Healthy.io (UK) Ltd
Using a home test kit and mobile app, Healthy.io’s solution empowers patients to self-test at home with clinical grade results. - DrDoctor – ICNH Ltd
DrDoctor uses AI to get the greatest use from every scheduled appointment within a hospital. It ensures attendance is as high as possible by using past appointment attendance and demographic data to predict those less likely to attend in the future and customising communication with these demographics accordingly. - Zio Service – iRhythm Technologies Ltd
A complete and clinically proven ambulatory ECG monitoring service, utilising powerful AI-led processing and analysis to support clinical workflows and improve the diagnostic yield and timeliness of cardiac monitoring. - Mia Mammography Intelligent Assessment – Kheiron Medical Technologies
Deep learning software that has been developed to solve critical challenges in the NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP), including reducing missed cancers, tackling the escalating shortage of radiologists and improving delays that put women’s lives at risk. - DLCExpert – Mirada Medical Ltd
DLCExpert uses artificial intelligence software to automate the time-consuming and skill-intensive task of outlining (or “contouring”) healthy organs on medical images for radiotherapy planning so that they are not irradiated during treatment. - Automated diabetic retinal image analysis software – Optos PLC
OptosAI uses a machine learning algorithm to analyse images of the back of the eye for the presence/severity of any diabetic retinopathy, and then advises if referral to an eye care specialist is needed (based on the local clinical pathway). - EchoGo Pro – Ultromics Ltd
A fully automated and scalable application for quantification and interpretation of stress echocardiograms that autonomously processes “real world” echocardiographic image studies to predict prognostically significant cardiac disease.
Sir Simon Stevens, NHS Chief Executive, said: “The NHS has and always will rely first and foremost on the clinical expertise of our staff, but the innovations we’re funding today have the potential to save lives by improving screening, cancer treatment and stroke care for NHS patients across the country.”
“We’re still in the early stages of AI, but when the latest chapter in the history of medicine comes to be written, AI in health care will doubtless rank alongside earlier advances such as the stethoscope, the X ray and the blood test.”
Matthew Gould, Chief Executive of NHSX, said: “Throughout the pandemic, the NHS has shown how digital technology can transform the service it provides, quickly and safely, but we have a long way to go.”
“The NHS AI Lab was set up to drive the adoption of data-driven technologies, with the goal of enhancing the care our staff can give their patients, and these awards should give that effort a serious boost.”
