Barts Health Trust speeds up cancer diagnosis and treatment

Barts Health NHS Trust has improved its cancer performance with more cancer patients being diagnosed and treated more quickly.

The improvements have led to NHS England relaxing the extra regulatory oversight that was imposed when people were waiting too long for treatment.

Cancer teams at the trust have met the new national standards to ensure that most suspected cancer patients are diagnosed within four weeks for five months. Since last April the backlog of cancer treatment caused by the pandemic has been reduced by over a quarter.

The trust is set to implement new AI technology to further improve diagnosis for suspected lung cancer patients. The trust will share £1m in government funding over the next two years for software to speed up the evaluation of chest X-rays, through the North East London (NEL) Cancer Alliance.

It is hoped that automating routine assessments through AI will ensure timely identification of critical cases and allow radiologists to focus on complex cases, and therefore improve outcomes. Clinicians hope to bring down the time it takes to get results to patients from three weeks to three days.

Stephen Ellis, consultant radiologist at St Bartholomew’s hospital, said: “This game-changing technology will help patients know sooner if they have lung cancer or it is ruled out.

“The AI will identify suspicious findings on chest X-rays immediately, flag them for hot reporting while the patient is still in the department, and enable us to expedite the appropriate management pathway.”