NHS South East Rolls Out Skin Cancer AI for Patient Discharge
NHS England’s South East region is implementing an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can discharge patients with harmless skin lesions without a dermatologist's review. DERM, developed by London-based Skin Analytics, will be live in all 18 NHS trusts starting this autumn, covering an additional 9 million people.
Skin Analytics announced the significant rollout, describing it as the largest deployment of autonomous medical AI within the NHS to date. The project spans over three years.
"For patients, a suspected cancer referral can be a stressful time," stated Daghni Rajasingam, the regional chief medical officer for NHS England.
How the Skin Cancer AI Works
DERM analyzes images of skin lesions sent in following a suspected skin cancer referral. If it determines a lesion to be benign, the NHS can discharge the patient at the initial triage stage. Lesions identified as higher risk are then fast-tracked to specialists.
Skin Analytics claims DERM is the first and only AI certified for autonomous use under a Class III CE mark, the highest classification for medical devices. Twenty-five NHS trusts in England have already integrated DERM, with the company reporting over 250,000 patient assessments, identifying over 25,000 skin cancers.
According to the company’s own monitoring data, DERM accurately rules out skin cancer 99.5% of the time and detects skin cancers with a 98% success rate.
A Edge Health white paper from July 2024, commissioned for NHS England’s outpatient recovery program, compared DERM's performance with that of dermatologists. The study found that DERM correctly ruled out melanoma 99.8% of the time, matching the accuracy of human dermatologists.
NHS Expectations and Benefits
Skin Analytics projects that up to one-third of urgent referrals could be discharged early in the South East region, potentially before the patient's first outpatient appointment. This could free up approximately 13,500 consultant hours annually, or around 27,000 appointments, according to the company. Some estimates suggest this figure could reach as high as 40%.
The rollout follows several other AI applications within the NHS, including AI-driven patient triage through the NHS App and unsupervised AI physiotherapists. However, concerns have also been raised about AI errors, such as medication misspellings and incorrect diagnoses in patient records.