Exclusive:Diagnosing skin cancer in 25 minutes: How Scotland's NHS is embracing AI

Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak told The Scotsman Life Sciences Conference in Glasgow on Thursday that AI innovation in oncology was growing in Scotland - with projects around skin and breast cancer diagnostics being pushed forward.

Dame Anna told the conference that “innovation is Scotland’s really strong card”, but stressed “you cannot innovate without industry”.

She added: “I think the NHS is hugely important in innovation.

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“Yes, we have to export, yes, we should be present. I would like to see Scotland all over the world. But we have our NHS.”

She pointed to three “innovation hubs” in Scotland, which are helping “bring innovation to the communities, to the patients”.

Dame Anna added: “We are now twinned with tech scalers. But if we had a money tree, we would have done much more. But I think together, we can do it all.”

She said: “We have made some good progress using the chief scientist office-funded innovation hubs. Particular interest, currently, is in oncology and the diagnostics of lung and breast cancer is perhaps the most interesting project that we have been looking at.

“There are two projects in chest X-ray AI, so detecting lung cancer earlier - one in Aberdeen, one in Glasgow.

“There is also a very interesting programme on mammograms - so AI used for early detection of breast cancer.”

Dame Anna told the conference the project was “at a translational stage” and “not ready for introduction”. She said there was potential for “a further look in February 2025” at pushing it forward.

Scotland’s chief scientist for health also highlighted a project being taken forward by a national consortium, led by NHS Scotland with the aim of achieving rapid diagnosis of skin cancer.

The goal is to achieve an indicative diagnosis of skin cancer within just 25 minutes by 2025 by combining imaging of skin cancer with world-leading artificial intelligence embedded within healthcare services.

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Dame Anna said: “There is also really interesting work in dermatology AI - looking at skin legions, particularly fungus and skin cancer.

“There’s a programme called 25 for 25 also very much involved and funded by the chief scientist’s office. This is diagnosing skin cancer in 25 minutes by 2025. It’s hugely ambitious.”

She added: “These programmes are developing and progressing and will be, perhaps, gaining momentum as we go forward.

“Our digital dermatology is now in three health boards across Scotland. It will be in all Scotland by March 2025 and that’s a huge advancement. That provides a platform on which AI could be built.

“We are doing it. We are not doing it too fast because obviously we don’t want to have any risk for patients.”

The chief scientist also moved to allay fears the use of AI in the NHS could put jobs at risk.

She said: “Interestingly, there was always this worry that clinicians would worry that jobs will go. That is not true. There is always a need for clinical assessment and a clinical eye. We just do it faster. You diagnose cancer quicker and better, but you still need a clinician in throughout the process.”

SNP business minister Richard Lochhead earlier told the conference that Scotland’s life science sector was “a cornerstone of our economy” and was “addressing some of the most pressing health challenges we have in this country”.

He said: “From the ground-breaking research in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals to advanced manufacturing and precision medicine, companies and now universities in Scotland really are at the forefront of progress in what is a really critical field for humanity.

“We start from a position of strength. To build on that progress, we’ve got more than 700 life sciences companies in Scotland employing 42,500 people. That success is due, in no small part, to the strategic and effective working between industry, academia, the NHS and government.”

This year’s Programme for Government includes “core research and innovation grants” totalling more than £315 million, which will “help develop early career researchers, promote knowledge exchange, and enable universities to drive local economic growth”.

Mr Lochhead added: “We very much want to see that momentum continue in Scotland. Innovation is a key ingredient to that success. The transformative potential of innovation is undeniable.

“Companies and countries which harness that potential will thrive and become magnets for talents and investment as well as exporting products and services to the rest of the world.”

The minister pointed to a ten-year vision for Scotland “to become one of the most innovative small nations in the world”.

He said: “The innovation we’ve seen in life sciences lays the groundwork for technology and AI to take us even further - enabling discoveries at a scale and speed that perhaps we once only imagined.

“Through NHS Research Scotland, we provide £43m annually to support NHS Scotland run high-quality clinical trials and supporting patients across Scotland to access cutting-edge treatments as well.”