3 Feb 2025 | 3 mins

President of Royal College of Radiologists calls for UK to “urgently embrace” AI to deal with healthcare crisis

The President of the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), Dr Katharine Halliday, will call for the UK to "urgently embrace" AI in the NHS to deal with rapidly increasing demand and waiting times at the RCR and NHS England Global AI Conference today.

With the NHS facing a 30% shortfall in radiologists - which could rise to 40% by 2028 - and demand for CT and MRI scans rising each year, Dr Halliday will urge greater use of AI within the NHS to manage demand. The conference will highlight some of the groundbreaking ways in which AI is already being used to help tackle a range of health conditions, and how new technology should be rolled out into the NHS safely, while managing risk.

Dr Katharine Halliday, President of the RCR commented:

“Each winter, the pressures facing the NHS are worse than the last. Chronic staff shortages in radiology mean patients face delayed diagnoses, while outsourcing costs spiral. With demand only set to rise, we will not cope unless we harness the power of AI and new technology.

“We are at a tipping point: AI could revolutionise healthcare-boosting productivity, speeding up diagnoses, and freeing up doctors' time to focus on patients. But if we get this wrong, it could put patients at risk, waste doctors' time, and drain public funds.

“AI is already being used in the NHS, and this is set to increase. The question is: how do we make it a success? The rollout of AI must be handled with expert oversight. We need a national conversation to ensure AI in healthcare is safe, effective, and earns public trust.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

“Trailblazing AI will be a catalyst for radically transforming our health service and ensuring patients receive worldclass care.

“We have already established a brand new working group to make sure new technologies reach the public faster - like AI for better NHS treatments and diagnosis as well as drones to deliver emergency supplies.

“Our AI Opportunities Action Plan will unlock the enormous potential of artificial intelligence across the UK, helping us to cut waiting times for patients and free up staff, as we deliver our Plan for Change to fix the NHS.”

The RCR has also commissioned JL Partners to conduct polling on the Future of AI with a sample size of over 1,000 adults. Key findings include:

The public want AI to work alongside human doctors, not to replace them: Just 13% believe that Radiologist doctors should work independently of AI, but equally only 5% think AI should be allowed to examine scans and tests without radiologists input at all.
The public back AI alongside doctors to help improve healthcare: A majority of the public believe AI could be used to speed up imaging processes in CT and MRI scanners, think AI could be used to analyse scans in real time alongside human radiologists and believe that AI could have a role in identifying problems in medical images.
There is more teaching to do about the role AI can play in healthcare: less than half (46%) have heard of AI being used in the NHS.

The Global AI conference will include speeches from leading voices across the NHS, academic institutions and healthcare providers. The conference will focus on shaping the future of AI in healthcare, covering a range of clinical specialties and will feature talks by global AI international leaders. Over 700 healthcare professionals are attending.

Academics will present a series of abstracts, detailing how AI can be used in healthcare. This includes:

Its potential to rapidly interpret chest x-rays, removing 10% of x-rays from radiologists' workflow.
Supporting the diagnosis of strokes.
Supporting medical education, with systems such as Chat GPT being used to support radiology training.

Dr Katharine Halliday, President of the RCR added:

“The RCR Global AI conference provides a unique opportunity for healthcare professionals, AI experts, policymakers and government representatives from across the globe to come together, allowing them to discuss and learn about the diverse range of AI technologies that will transform healthcare as we know it.

“We at The Royal College of Radiologists are committed to harnessing the potential of AI while mitigating the risks. We are actively collaborating with the NHS and global partners to ensure its responsible development and deployment, for the benefit of patients.”