Buckinghamshire NHS Trust to trial AI skin cancer service after successful event

Buckinghamshire NHS Trust is trialling using AI technology as part of its skin cancer service.

Following a successful conference exploring how artificial intelligence can be used in healthcare, the trust has announced plans to work with Skin Analytics.

NHS staff will be using the company’s artificial intelligence platform to analyse photos of skin lesions to assess if these are skin cancers.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “Skin cancer referrals have increased 300% over the last 10 years. Being able to implement a system like Skin Analytics will be a huge benefit for both patients and colleagues at the trust.”

Last month, the Research and Innovation (R&I) department at the trust hosted the first ever BRAInWAVE festival of innovation.

It was attended by 62 people from organisations and companies including Ufonia, Quantium, the Royal College of Surgeons and NHS England. Delegates had the opportunity to hear from leaders in the field of clinical innovation, witness hands-on demonstrations of some of the innovations the trust is currently involved in to improve the experience of patients and staff, and join workshops to start analysing new problems and build solutions. Speakers’ topics ranged from skincare analytics for cancer patients to the use of AI in patient-facing healthcare.

Dr Andrew McLaren, chief medical officer at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are very proud of our track record in research and innovation at the Trust. Collaborating with local enterprises and partners across the healthcare and tech industry is key to finding better and bolder solutions to help our people improve the care they provide to our patients here in Bucks. BRAInWAVE was a fantastic way to highlight these solutions, to celebrate and keep innovating.”

Buckinghamshire NHS Trust has also announced it received £200,000 funding to run the NHS InSites Clinical Entrepreneur Programme.

Dr Nick de Pennington, founder & CEO Ufonia Limited, added: “It was wonderful to be asked to share my innovation journey at the Trust’s first BRAInWAVE event. The team have been instrumental in the success of Ufonia, they were our first clinical site and remain at the forefront of thinking how patient-facing AI can transform their care pathways.”