Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow is trialling artificial intelligence to help improve turnaround times for CT scans and reduce A&E pressures in what’s said to be a “first in the UK.”

Developed by healthtech firm Qure.ai, the technology can enable emergency department (ED) consultants and clinicians to make faster decisions about the care and discharge of patients who need imaging of their head.

The AI technology works by quickly examining head CT scans, pinpointing critical areas of concern, and creating prioritised reporting for radiology staff. With its integration at QEUH, medical professionals can rapidly review reported CT scans, resulting in prompt diagnosis and treatment decisions for patients who may be in a critical condition.

In the first few weeks of the head CT AI implementation over the 2023/24 winter period, the AI technology analysed 651 non-contract head CTs, detecting 128 head injuries including cranial fractures, intracranial haemorrhage (ICH), mass effect and midline shift within the brain.

Professor David Lowe, emergency medicine consultant at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “Emergency Departments across the country continue to face challenges with one person presenting at a UK ED every 90 seconds, potentially requiring brain imaging.

“By utilising the opportunities of innovative AI to help prioritise urgent cases, we will look to deliver critical interventions whilst improving workflow and time in the ED for patients with normal scans.

“The study looks to provide evidence to support adoption of AI across four centres in the UK. We hope this will support clinical teams in decision making to deliver critical clinical care, reassurance and, when appropriate, discharge releasing capacity and space for patients in our pressured system.”

The Glasgow hospital is one of four planned NHS sites across the UK to utilise the CT AI solution in the project, called ACcEPT (Assess the Clinical Effectiveness in Prioritising CT Heads).

Denise Brown, director of digital services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, commented: “It is important to establish reliable evidence on the impact and value of AI solutions, and to determine how they best support clinical decision making.

“Our Digital Strategy’s Enabled by AI Programme brings together NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s expertise on research, innovation and the operation of AI solutions at scale, while working closely with colleagues in academia.”

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Darren Stephens, senior vice president & commercial head, UK and Europe, at Qure.ai also remarked: “This is an exciting step forward for AI in NHS Emergency Departments.

“Providing digital health tools that can create calm and give informed prioritisation of urgent cases to support stretched clinical teams, especially at night or weekends, is very advantageous.

“It may help reduce CT scan-to-reporting turnaround times and give rapid alerts of critical findings that will boost the speed of treatment given to patients.”