Hopes for disease-spotting AI to slash ambulance waits and Covid backlog

MINISTERS are pinning their hopes on slashing ambulance waits and the Covid backlog with disease-spotting robots, The Sun can reveal.

Steve Barclay will this week greenlight a new multi-million AI package that they hope will speed up diagnosis of illnesses like strokes, and ultimately save lives.

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Extra funding will go into new tech that can spot potential diseases quicker than humans can – gaining precious time for millions of sick Brits.

Successful technologies will be fast-tracked into the NHS to speed up diagnosis, tackle waiting lists and free up doctors.

Researchers from Denmark have recently developed a cutting edge new tool which can outperform human call-handlers and make an accurate diagnosis over the phone.

Skin cancer and breast cancer are two areas which are already benefiting from AI-checks which can spot anomalies better than humans can.

They also hope this new tech can slash the huge Covid backlogs.

The Government is already funding £54million of cash into university research to develop more new AI technology.

£16million is going into funding to accelerate research on cancer checks, diagnosing rare diseases, and identifying women and the highest risks of premature births.

Rishi Sunak has been keen for Britain to become a world-leader in AI and how it can be used for good, despite fears it could take over the world and make thousands of jobs obsolete.