Data from practices could enable earlier cancer diagnosis

Artificial intelligence is transforming the NHS’ ability to deliver high quality cancer care—with the latest plan enabling routine data to support GPs in diagnosing the disease as early as possible.

That was the prediction from Jem Rashbass, director of National Disease Registration and Cancer Analysis at Public Health England, who was speaking at a meeting entitled Real World Evidence in Oncology in London last week. The meeting was organised by the health IT company Quintiles IMS.

Rashbass described the National Cancer Intelligence Network as a “phenomenal resource” that is the “largest and most sophisticated health data collection system in the world [and which] is now at the centre of cancer care in the NHS.”

The network was set …