Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to exploit artificial intelligence in radiotherapy treatment services.

The Department has provided £123 million to 86 artificial intelligence (AI) technologies through the Health and Care Award. The Award is accelerating the testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Two of these AI technologies, Mirada Medical and project OSAIRIS, specialise in assisting clinicians with segmenting radiotherapy scans. This process, which is currently done by hand by clinicians, outlines healthy organs so they can be avoided during radiotherapy treatment. These technologies have been testing the feasibility of AI tools that could automatically identify healthy organs and segment scans. This could speed up the segmentation process and help patients start radiotherapy treatment sooner and reduce workloads for clinicians.