• A new partnership is developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms to support clinicians with faster diagnosis and treatments, personalised therapies, and effective screening across a range of conditions and procedures.
• It is the first time a programme has aimed to use AI at this scale within the NHS.
• The partnership with Answer Digital is a key step toward deploying this open-source technology in clinical environments.

A new partnership between the London Medical Imaging and AI Centre for Value-Based Healthcare and digital transformation consultancy Answer Digital is paving the way for AI-enabled hospitals and the future of patient care.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms will be developed to support clinicians with faster diagnosis and treatments, personalised therapies, and effective screening across a range of conditions and procedures.

Federated learning is being employed to address the long-standing issues surrounding privacy, security and anonymity when collating the large volumes of sensitive patient data traditionally required to teach machines.

The new project will provide the NHS with a fully open-source solution that comprises a Federated Learning Interoperability Platform capable of ensuring machine learning models can be trained without data ever having to leave the Trust’s secure environment, and an AI Deployment Engine which will enable AI to be deployed safely within the Trusts.

Commenting on plans, Beverley Bryant, Chief Digital Information Officer for Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust & King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Senior Responsible Owner for the London Medical Imaging and AI Centre for Value-Based Healthcare, said: "This is a unique programme to implement AI at scale within the NHS. Our partnership with Answer Digital is another key step toward deploying this open-source technology in clinical environments. Answer Digital is a respected digital health agency, and we hope that our partnership and shared success will provide a springboard for widespread AI deployment across the NHS to benefit patients.”

Professor Seb Ourselin, Deputy Director of the London Medical Imaging and AI Centre for Value-Based Healthcare, and Head of school of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King’s College London said: “Public and private partnerships are critical to bring secure AI-powered innovations into the NHS to improve patient care. For the first time, with the expertise of Answer Digital working together with the AI Centre, we will propel an open source federated learning platform and deployment engine that will ensure data remains safe and stays within each Trust. This project has the capacity to be truly transformative. ”

The London Medical Imaging and AI Centre for Value-Based Healthcare was recently awarded a £16 million DHSC grant by the Office for Life Sciences to enable its programme of artificial intelligence research within the NHS, with the aim of providing more innovative and accessible healthcare solutions to the public. The grant also facilitates the consortium's significant expansion from four NHS Trusts to 10, and new academic and industry partnerships.

Richard Pugmire, Director at Answer Digital, said: “Answer Digital has a deep history of partnership with the NHS on nationally significant innovation that advances personalised and digitally enabled healthcare provision across the NHS. Alongside our exciting work with NHS England’s genomic medicine service, we are thrilled to be part of the journey that brings AI to the forefront of patient care in a new and meaningful way. The AI programme is hugely ambitious, and the partnership allows us to bring the best technical, clinical and academic minds together to showcase a truly robust solution, capable of changing the way healthcare is provided for many years to come.”

Notes to editors:

About the London Medical Imaging and AI Centre for Value-Based Healthcare: The London Medical Imaging & AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare prides itself as a highly collaborative, cross-institution Centre of Excellence. The AI Centre uses data and AI to address one of the UK government’s Grand Challenge missions – the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases. The Centre is led by King’s College London and Guy's and Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, comprising 10 NHS Trusts, 4 Universities, and 15 Industry Partners. Based at St Thomas’ Hospital our partnerships combine expertise in AI, medical imaging, and data science from leaders in industry, research, and clinical practice around the world. Established as part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and delivered through UK Research and Innovation, the AI Centre focuses on addressing the opportunities and challenges of the future. We are funded by public sector grants from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Office of Life Sciences, delivered through Innovate UK.

About Answer Digital:

Answer Digital is a digital health agency which supports a wide range of sectors including finance, retail, and health. We research, design, and develop digital solutions across the country, utilising our experienced teams of developers, testers, coders, project managers, UX designers and more.

In health, we have worked closely with NHS Digital, NHS X and others to deliver an array of interoperability capabilities, including the National Record Locator (Digital Public Sector Innovation of the Year Award 2019), National Events Management Service, GP Connect, Genomics and so much more. For over 20 years we have been working with clients to enable digital transformation, marrying our rich technical knowledge with our ability to deliver digital at scale.