AI helps a Bradford clinic make room for more skin checks

A Bradford clinic is seeing a third more patients per session after introducing artificial intelligence (AI) to help assess suspicious skin marks.

At St Luke’s Hospital, staff now see 32 people in a session, up from 24. The trust also reports about 10% fewer unnecessary biopsies since adopting the system in April.

A healthcare assistant takes three photographs of a mole or lesion. Software called DERM — Deep Ensemble for the Recognition of Malignancy — analyses them within minutes. Every image is then checked by a clinician; suspicious cases receive specialist assessment.

This is still a service being evaluated. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence permits its use while further evidence is collected, with particular safeguards for black and brown skin, where evidence remains limited.

For Laurence Patten, 73, prompt attention has eased some worry. The AI flagged his mole; a specialist thought it likely benign, but removal and testing will confirm that.

Getting seen promptly has already helped. “It’s not ticking away in my mind,” he told the BBC.

Sources

• BBC News — Bradford’s AI skin-check clinic
• NICE — DERM recommendations and safeguards