Transformation Directorate

AI Diagnostic Fund

The AI Diagnostic Fund will provide funding to accelerate the deployment of the most promising AI imaging and decision support tools to help diagnose patients more quickly.

£21 million will be provided to 12 imaging networks, covering 64 NHS trusts across England, to speed up the roll out of AI diagnostic tools.

The AI Diagnostic Fund will prioritise certain technologies, such as tools that can support clinicians to analyse chest X-Rays - the most common tool used to assist a diagnosis for lung cancer - which is the leading cause of cancer death in the UK. With more than 600,000 chest X-rays performed each month in England, the deployment of diagnostic AI tools will potentially assist clinicians in diagnosing cancer earlier, which will improve patient outcomes.

We are working with the National Institute for Health and Care Research to develop in-service evaluations for the tools that are deployed, which will help to address the gaps in evidence highlighted by NICE’s Artificial intelligence-derived software to analyse chest X-rays for suspected lung cancer in primary care referrals: Early Value Assessment guidance and evidence generation plan.

For developers of AI tools to be considered they must have joined the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Artificial Intelligence Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). For information, join our AI Diagnostic Fund workspace.

This is a separate programme to the AI Deployment Platform pilot, which is testing a platform approach to AI deployment in two imaging networks. More information on this pilot can be found on the AI Deployment Platform page.

Imaging networks

Below are the 12 imaging networks that will receive funding from the AI Diagnostic Fund.

East 1 and East 2

Trusts

  • East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
  • West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust
  • West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
  • North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
  • Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
  • Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
London 1.1

Trusts

  • London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
  • The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
London 2.2

Trusts

  • Barts Health NHS Trust
  • Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
East Midlands Imaging Network

Trusts

  • Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
North East 4

Trusts

  • Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
  • York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust
North East 2

Trusts

  • County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
  • Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
  • Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
  • South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
North West 1

Trusts

  • Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
  • Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
  • Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
  • Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
North West 2

Trusts

  • The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust
  • Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • East Cheshire NHS Trust
  • Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust
  • Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
South West Network 1

Trusts

  • University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
  • Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
South East 2

Trusts

  • University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
  • Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Yorkshire Imaging Collaborative

Trusts

  • Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
  • Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
  • Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust

Read more about our AI in imaging work