Nine projects to develop the use of AI in healthcare are to receive shares of nearly £16 million from the third round of the AI and Health and Care Awards fund.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said this is aimed at fast tracking the technologies into the NHS with aims including improving the speed and accuracy of medical diagnosis, freeing up clinicians’ time and reducing waiting lists.
Awards in the new round of funding, managed by the NHS AI Lab, are as follows:
- £2.52 million to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust for monitoring images for indications of bowel cancer.
- Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust receives £833,800 to use AI to improve diagnosis of lung artery blockages and high blood pressure.
- Digital heart start-up Mendelian gets £1.43 million for work on capturing features from electronic health records and matching them to diagnostic criteria for rare diseases.
- Oxford Cancer Biomarkers receives £1.47 million to use AI to identify biomarker genes that may suggest a predisposition to certain diseases.
- £1.42 million to Icometrix to develop a range of AI products to assist with the treatment and monitoring of neurological disorders such as brain trauma, stroke and dementia.
- Cibiltech is developing an AI based algorithm to help surgeons adjust the use of medicines to support kidney transplants.
- A consortium led by the University of Bristol receives £1.87 million for the development of an online tool to identify pregnant women most at risk of giving birth prematurely.
- £2.45 million to Medtronic for GI Genius, an AI medical device for processing colonoscopy images and detecting signs of cancer.
- Ibex Medical Analytics gets £1.54 million for analysis of tissue extracts to help pathologists determine the presence of cancer.
In addition, up to £1 million has been set aside for evaluation of the technologies.
In total £123 million has been invested in 86 AI technologies across three rounds since the fund was set up in 2019.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Artificial Intelligence has the potential to speed up diagnoses and treatments and free up time for our doctors and nurses so they can focus on caring for patients.
“Around 300,000 people have already benefitted from companies supported by our AI awards, with tens of thousands more set to benefit.”
