AI skin cancer screening debuts at London hospital with iPhone assistance

AI is transforming cancer screening in the UK healthcare system, with a new technology at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital enabling skin cancer checks without doctor intervention. This breakthrough represents a significant shift in how routine medical diagnostics can be streamlined through artificial intelligence, potentially reducing wait times for serious cases while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy in a healthcare system facing increasing referral demands.

The big picture: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has implemented an AI system that can assess suspicious skin lesions and discharge patients with benign cases without requiring specialist review, achieving 99% accuracy in diagnosing non-cancerous conditions.

• Medical photographers capture images of concerning moles using an iPhone with the DERM app, developed by UK firm Skin Analytics.
• The photos transfer to a desktop computer for deeper analysis before the AI determines whether the lesion is benign or potentially cancerous.
• Patients with clear results can be discharged without specialist consultation, creating significant efficiency in patient flow.

Why this matters: The technology addresses growing pressure on dermatology departments by rapidly screening the 95% of urgent referrals that turn out to be non-cancerous.

• The hospital receives approximately 7,000 urgent skin cancer referrals annually, with only 5% actually being cancer.
• By handling benign cases quickly, specialists can focus their attention on potentially serious cases requiring immediate intervention.

What they’re saying: Healthcare professionals highlight the technology’s critical role in managing increasing patient volumes.

• “We wouldn’t be able to keep up with the numbers of patients that are coming through as urgent skin cancer referrals without (the technology),” explained Dr. Louise Fearfield.
• Patient Jimmy Povey described his experience: “They took a picture. That was it. I got a phone call and they just said, ‘Mr Povey, it’s nothing – it’s a mole, nothing to worry about’. So all the worry was gone in two days.”

The broader impact: The AI tool has already demonstrated scalability across the UK healthcare system.

• The technology has been implemented at more than 20 other NHS hospitals across the country.
• It has contributed to the detection of over 14,000 cancer cases throughout the UK.

Where we go from here: Future developments may bring this technology closer to patients’ homes.

• Dr. Lucy Thomas noted: “The idea is definitely to get this closer to patients so they can benefit from it. At the moment that technology is limited because you need a dermoscopic lens which the public wouldn’t necessarily have access to, but I’m sure with time the technology will advance and we will have effective apps that patients can access from the comfort of their own home.”