Amber Chawner, Senior Account Executive
Last week’s announcement from Boris Johnson revealing the rise in national insurance tax to fuel health and social care has left promise for further investment in technology to help increase efficiency and allow for better resourcing. However, that isn’t to say that progress hasn’t already been made in this department, with exciting new developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and healthcare hitting the headlines every day.
As we wait in anticipation to see what is to come, below I take a look at some of the ways that AI is already being used to revolutionise the health and social care sector.
Using AI to detect dementia up to 15 years earlier
A disease that impacts more than 850,000 people in the UK every year, Cogentivity has partnered with InterSystems on a solution that uses AI to detect dementia up to 15 years earlier than conventional methods. Its Integrated Cognitive Assessment (ICA), teamed with InterSystems IRIS for Health data platform, tests how the brain reacts to certain types of images and detects the earliest signs of disease before the onset of memory symptoms. It has already been deployed at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust and is currently the subject of a UK government-funded study in collaboration with the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and Alzheimer’s Research UK.
AI remote monitoring software to allow people to remain in their homes
Health tech company, Lilli has recently partnered with Dorset Council in a three-month pilot to help identify cost and time-savings in the care sector. With 100 people involved in the trial, sensors are installed in their homes which then track behaviour and electricity usage. AI then comes into play to analyse the data collected and spot any potential health problems. With additional strain being placed on the NHS at the moment, this kind of solution helps to keep people out of hospitals, while also allowing them the freedom to remain in the comfort of their own homes for longer.
Scientists are developing an app that uses AI to diagnose conditions by listening to their cough
Imagine having an app that can determine what illness you have just by listening to a cough?! For a lot of people, a cough is just a cough, but this group of scientists are recording millions of coughs and then training AI to identify what is causing the person to have the symptom. After the events of the last year and a half, this kind of tool could become instrumental in helping diagnose conditions such as asthma, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or even Covid substantially earlier – freeing up hospital space and increasing overall hospital efficiency.
AI-enabled software which allows surgeons to rehearse brain aneurysms procedures
Oxford Heartbeat has designed the PreSize technology – an AI solution that allows surgeons to rehearse brain aneurysms procedures. Currently being used by the NHS at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, the medical device software helps to plan neurovascular surgeries by predicting the behaviour of a particular stent in a patient’s anatomy. It then automatically creates an accurate 3D model of the patient’s vessel tree and indicates where a stent should start and finish in the vessel model, allowing the surgeon to select the best option from a library of all certified stents.
With these exciting new developments already well underway, keep your eyes peeled to see the other innovative ways in which AI can be used to revolutionise the healthcare sector.
