The collaboration will aim to exploit deepc’s innovative AI platform to strengthen BT’s digital health programme for the NHS. Adoption of AI in radiology and pathology is increasing, helping to address the current skills and workforce shortage in the health service.

Described as a radiology AI platform that helps medical professionals access the clinical value of multiple AI tools quickly and safely via an AI marketplace, deepc is said to integrate into any hospital environment, streamlining the curation and onboarding effort, and offering access to more than 50 third-party AI solutions to enable adoption at scale.

The AI platform is reported to be capable of onboarding AI tech into NHS hospitals that might otherwise typically be overlooked owing to their geographic location. AI allows doctors to see more patients and address the existing backlog.

Professor Sultan Mahmud said: “Offering faster diagnosis and helping reduce waiting times, our new digital diagnostics and AI services are designed to help ease some of the pressures facing doctors and nurses today. It’s part of our commitment to stand alongside the NHS, working with clinicians to help more UK trusts reap the benefits of the latest technology – helping them do more with digital, without increasing their already heavy workload.”

Dr Paul Bhogal, a consultant interventional neuroradiologist and member of BT’s clinical advisory board, added: “When we talk about the need to bring new technology to the NHS, we’re not talking about replacing doctors and nurses. We’re talking about taking tools that are already a part of everyday life elsewhere and using them to make things quicker and easier for patients.

“BT’s new digital diagnostics and AI collaborations will not only help connect NHS clinicians with patients faster and more efficiently; they can also help with upskilling and knowledge sharing, to plug some of the gaps where healthcare services need it most.”