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There are critical staff shortages across the NHS, including radiologists, resulting in delays for cancer patients. Delays in diagnosis and treatment can be extremely serious and even fatal.
Sadly, all clinical negligence solicitors have seen such cases on a regular basis. However, revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can read scans, detect cancer, target radiotherapy and even predict disease risk appear to provide real hope for our currently overstretched NHS cancer services.
Devastating shortages
According to the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), problems with staffing levels are leading to hold-ups in patients accessing cancer treatment and for every four-week delay, the risk of death increases by around 10 percent. There is a worldwide shortage of radiologists (specialist doctors who interpret scans) with a 29 percent shortfall in the UK which the RCR state, without action, will be 40 percent by 2027. The Chief executive of Cancer Research UK has been reported as saying that as a result of ‘underfunding and poor planning from governments across the UK, there isn’t enough staff or equipment to diagnose and treat cancer in a timely way.’ This is clearly a very worrying situation.
AI could relieve pressures?
Against this backdrop, the latest developments in AI give some reassurance about the future. Recent research from a Swedish trial has found that AI can read breast cancer screening images and detect cancer at a similar rate to two radiologists.
According to Dr Katharine Halliday, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, mammograms (x-ray pictures of the breast used to look for early signs of cancer) are complex and currently require significant oversight and interpretation by clinical radiologists. Researchers have said that using AI-supported mammography screening could potentially almost halve the current screening workload with the greatest potential benefit of AI at this time being a reduction in the burden on radiologists. However, Dr Kristina Lång from Lund University in Sweden has said that, while promising, the trial results are not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening.
The NHS is reportedly examining how this type of technology could be implemented within its breast screening programme noting that there is scope to help speed up diagnosis, detect cancers at an earlier stage and ultimately save more lives. Could this also relieve some of the wider pressures faced by the NHS and allow improvements in other areas of patient care?
AI is already making a difference in cancer treatment
According to Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: ‘Artificial intelligence is already transforming the way we deliver healthcare and AI tools are already making a significant impact across the NHS in diagnosing conditions earlier, meaning people can be treated more quickly.’
A new AI system called ‘OSAIRIS’ which was developed by and for the NHS, is reportedly already reducing the time that certain cancer patients wait for radiotherapy treatment at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. The technology assists doctors to calculate where to direct radiation beams to kill cancerous cells and protect healthy tissue around the cancer, saving precious doctor time.
Catching it early
There is a significant and growing body of evidence that AI has the potential to predict future cancer risks as well as catch cancer early, which could lead to better outcomes for patients.
A large study in the USA found that several newly developed AI algorithms can predict a person’s five-year breast cancer risk better than a standard clinical risk model which is traditionally used. One of the study authors, Dr Arasu says that the study suggests AI is ‘identifying both missed cancers and breast tissue features that help predict future cancer development. Something in mammograms allows us to track breast cancer risk. This is the ‘black box’ of AI’. Patients can not only be given excellent scanning facilities but also a predictive score of the possibility of future breast cancer development.
Separate research by scientists at Kings College London, recently published in the Journal of Pathology, found that AI can predict if an aggressive type of breast cancer will spread based on changes in lymph nodes.
A further study led by researchers from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, called the LIBRA study, found an AI model that appears to detect cancerous large lung nodules accurately which it is hoped, in the future, will improve early detection.
These emerging developments in AI come at a crucial time, when, in my experience as a medical negligence solicitor, current cancer services are all too often unable to meet patient needs. I hope that the necessary research and funding to further develop and roll out innovative technologies continues, and with speed.
If you are concerned that there was a delay in diagnosing your cancer, or that of a family member, or that there were inadequacies in treatment, Kingsley Napley’s team of specialist lawyers are here to help.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Bell is the head of our Medical Negligence and Personal Injury practice and joined the firm in 2023 from Hodge, Jones & Allen. He has undertaken medical negligence cases for over 20 years.
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
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