Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have implemented AI-enabled chest X-ray technology supported by national funding; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that technology on (a) diagnostic turnaround times and (b) staff productivity.

The Government is committed to ensuring that clinically effective and cost-effective medical technologies are adopted more consistently across the National Health Service, so that patients can benefit from proven innovation wherever they live. The 10-Year Health Plan and Life Science Sector Plan published last year committed to expand National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisals used for branded medicines, publish guidance to introduce value-based procurement, and introduce an Innovator Passport.

The National HealthTech Access Programme was launched earlier this year to expand NICE Technology Appraisals to selected medical devices, diagnostics and digital products. The first technologies referred to NICE include capsule sponge tests to support earlier detection of oesophageal cancer and AI-assisted analysis of breast and prostate pathology images. Following publication of NICE appraisals early next year implementation plans to achieve national adoption will be confirmed. The Value Based Procurement guidance was published in June to support more consistent, evidence-based purchasing decisions focused on outcomes rather than lowest cost. The Innovator Passport is due to be launched over the coming months to enable better exchange and reuse of information to speed up local decision making.