The U.K. Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has commended the National Health Service (NHS) England plan to deploy AI to help doctors analyze lung scans.
On 27 January, NHS England announced a pilot program to deploy AI software to rapidly analyze lung scans, as well as robotic cameras to take biopsies more precisely. The NHS said it also plans to expand lung cancer screening. The news comes ahead of the release of the government’s national cancer plan for England, the RCR noted.
“This pilot is a good example of how AI could improve patient care when used to assist highly trained doctors. Spotting lung cancer earlier is vital to help patients live longer, healthier lives,” said RCR President Dr. Stephen Harden in a statement.
However, without more doctors to interpret more scans, expanding lung cancer screening could add to diagnostic delays, he added.
“We hope to see this plan supported by investment in the radiology workforce, so that patients can really see the benefit,” Harden said.
![A normal mammogram confirmed by three-year radiologic follow-up illustrates reader-marked regions of interest (ROIs) during (A) unaided (round 1) and (B) artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted (round 2) reading. Each colored dot represents an ROI for recall by a human reader. Readers could mark more than one ROI per case, represented by multiple dots of the same color. During AI-assisted reading, the AI system displayed three visible prompts: two with suspicion of malignancy scores of 35% (left mediolateral oblique [L MLO] and craniocaudal [L CC]) and one with a suspicion of malignancy score of 10% (right craniocaudal [R CC]), shown as polygonal overlays. Without AI, six of 10 readers (60%) marked a false-positive ROI. With AI assistance, this fell to two of 10 (20%). R MLO = right mediolateral oblique.](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/07/2026-07-14-radiology-mammogram-ai-auto-bias.H0bYO8QlWs.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
