The technology is being rolled out at seven NHS trusts across Greater Manchester over the next few months as part of a partnership between Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, Greater Manchester Imaging Network and global health tech firm Annalise.ai.

Phase one of this technology, which will encompass GP chest X-rays, has now gone live at WWL. Phase two that will bring on board chest X-rays in the trust's Emergency Department and In-Patient departments will be rolled out in early 2025.

It will see an AI-powered chest X-ray decision-support system used to read chest X-rays. The tool can detect up to 124 findings on chest radiographs, which will help healthcare professionals detect diseases, including lung cancer, quicker.

When the Annalise.ai chest X-ray solution identifies potential lung cancer cases, the information is relayed to the reporting medical provider in under five minutes. This allows healthcare professionals to prioritise the review of the chest X-rays identified as suspicious.

Integrating the Annalise.ai solution through Sectra Imaging - a leading imaging IT provider to health systems worldwide - across all seven trusts within the Greater Manchester Imaging Network, will allow a comprehensive evaluation of this technology across the region, which has a population of 2.8 million people. It is being funded by from the Artificial Intelligence Diagnostics Fund (AIDF).

The need to detect cancer more quickly is particularly urgent in Greater Manchester, where lung cancer rates sit at 24% above the national average and life expectancy is lower than in England as a whole.

The project forms part of a wider programme of work being led by the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, with the aim of improving cancer outcomes and experiences for the population of Greater Manchester.

Dr Marc Williams, consultant radiologist at WWL said: 'We are excited to use this innovative technology at WWL to support patient care.

'We hope it will help us to streamline the patient journey by allowing us to diagnose cancer more quickly. This will mean patients get a better experience and can begin treatment sooner which will hopefully lead to them having a better outcomes.'

Andy Burnham as Mayor of Greater Manchester and co-chair, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, added: 'We know we have higher rates of lung cancer in Greater Manchester than elsewhere in the country, so I'm delighted to see this new partnership which we hope will help to get treatment to people sooner. I'm glad to see Greater Manchester leading the way in this area.'

Annalise.ai was also selected as the preferred provider by five additional imaging networks across NHS England through the AIDF, meaning that Annalise.ai's chest X-ray solution will be used to perform 2.5 million chest X-rays each year – more than one third of all chest X-rays performed across the country.