The UK government’s AI action plan has identified numerous commercial areas in which it plans to drive implementation, including healthcare and diagnostic imaging.
While innovation and advancement is always welcome, it is important to remember that “tech needs people”, the SoR has said.
In response to prime minister Keir Starmer’s speech and the AI Action Plan published on Monday (13 January), executive director of industrial strategy and member relations Dean Rogers, warned that there can be no imaging without radiographers.
Making public services more human
In his speech announcing the plan, Mr Starmer said: “AI isn’t something locked away behind the walls of blue-chip companies. It’s a force for change that will transform the lives of working people for the better. If you’re worried about waiting times - and aren’t we all - AI can save hundreds of thousands of hours lost to missed appointments, because it can identify those on the list most likely not to turn up, and help get them the support that they need. Maybe change for a more convenient appointment.
“The ability to predict and prevent illness long before it strikes - think of the lives that will save. Think about the impact on your life, think about all the doctors and nurses who will have more time for the personal touch, the connection, the service that people really value.
“And in a way that’s the irony of AI. It will make public services more human, reconnect staff with the reasons they came to public service in the first place.”
The AI Action Plan identifies a number of opportunities to “lay the foundation” for AI implementation, to change lives by its integration, and to secure the UK’s future with its usage.
Chief among these opportunities are its integration with healthcare.
Better, cheaper, quicker
The NHS’s AI Diagnostic Fund is one example of the UK government’s efforts to embrace AI in healthcare, allocating £21 million to twelve imaging networks, covering 66 NHS trusts across England, to significantly speed up the roll out of AI diagnostic tools nationwide.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is supporting the deployment of technologies in “key, high-demand” areas such as chest X-ray and chest CT scans to enable faster diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in over half of acute trusts in England.
The action plan says: “Assessment and diagnosis can be improved through the use of AI. Assessments can be done better, cheaper, and more quickly across multiple sectors.”
Caution in implementation
Tracy O’Regan, professional officer for clinical imaging and research, said: “The costs of implementing and ongoing use of AI in imaging are yet to be determined.
“While it is expected that for a range of examinations, AI will speed up the process of reporting imaging results eventually, currently this is at a stage of implementation and evaluation, and does require oversight from a radiologist or reporting radiographer.”
The society is pleased to hear the government’s plans to invest significantly in AI, but it has urged caution in implementation.
Mr Rogers said: “Many of our members are working with machines that are more than 20 years old – and, in some cases, even older than the radiographers themselves. So any investment in new equipment will improve efficiency and effectiveness.
“But technology alone is not going to bring down NHS waiting lists. Tech needs people. While AI can speed up the process of reporting imaging results, there can be no imaging without an appropriately educated and trained radiography workforce – in fact, regulations require it.”
Closing the gap
AI is already being used in hospitals to speed up the diagnosis process – though new technology requires robust assessment, which in turn takes time and investment.
The UK’s Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) provide a framework for the safe use of ionising radiation in medical and non-medical imaging.
This framework explains that if artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to support decision making, the process for its use should be described in the employer’s procedure.
Under IR(ME)R a person must be involved in the clinical evaluation process for each exposure and AI cannot be used alone to perform image interpretation. If an AI image reader is used, the human reader remains responsible for the clinical evaluation.
“Any equipment that could close the gap between the growing demand for diagnosis and the NHS’s capacity to deliver is very welcome,” Mr Rogers added. “In addition, AI can’t reassure a patient who is nervous about a scan or explain the process to them to help them relax. For that, we need radiographers.”
The chronic shortage of radiographers – which stands at an average vacancy rate of 15 per cent – means that brand new MRI and CT scanners in their departments stand idle for parts of the week, because they didn’t come with a budget for radiographers to deliver patient care.
(Image: Photo by Henry Nicholls - WPA Pool/Getty Images)