Evening Standard comment: Artificial intelligence will be good for the NHS

The exciting medical breakthrough announced today by doctors at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital, in which artificial intelligence has been used to diagnose more than 50 types of eye disease and prioritise the patients with the most severe conditions for the speediest treatment, promises to bring major benefits for the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from potentially sight-threatening conditions. That is a reason to celebrate in itself and is a tribute, once again, to the outstanding abilities of not only those at Moorfields but at many other of London’s world-leading hospitals and medical research centres. The result, it is hoped, will be that within a few years every scan taken can be examined by an electronic “DeepMind” technology to identify within seconds those patients who need the most urgent attention, eliminating delays and improving the prospects of successful intervention by the hospital’s clinicians. Many people should end up with better sight as a result as treatment is given before damage escalates.

But perhaps even more thrilling is the possiblity that the methods used to achieve this success could be applied to tackle an even wider range of diseases, including cancer and heart disease, in which doctors currently use X-rays, CT or MRI scans to determine a patient’s condition. At the moment, as with eye scans, the sheer volume of scans that need to be analysed can slow down assessments, creating risk and potential harm, as well as overwhelming medical staff. Provided the accuracy of the technology — which matched that of humans in the Moorfields research — can be confirmed, this can only benefit the NHS, by improving efficiency and allowing doctors to spend more of their time focusing on the patients in greatest need of their attention. Nor should be there be any misplaced fears about technology easing out humans altogether. Doctors will, of course, still carry out whatever treatment is necessary and their own assessment of patients’ scans once they have been prioritised by a computer’s electronic brain. As ministers have said today in welcoming the Moorfields breakthrough, artificial intelligence is the type of technology that will benefit the NHS in the long term. Today’s advance is therefore an important milestone and one that all Londoners should welcome.

A new Government strategy for eliminating homelessness within a decade has been unveiled today amid controversy about how much of the promised £100 million of spending is new investment. The political squabbling should not, however, obscure either the good intent behind today’s plans — which include a greater emphasis on intervention, such as treatment for drug and mental health problems, to help the homeless off the streets — or the need for action to address what campaigners have understandably described as a national scandal. As the Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said today, it is “simply unacceptable” that people have to sleep on the streets.

Regrettably, though, the problem has been getting worse, including in London where the all-too-frequent sight of homeless people sleeping out is one of the most upsetting aspects of life in the capital today. By focusing on treatment, not punishment, and using outreach “navigators” to direct the homeless towards services that can help them, today’s strategy aims in the right direction. But more housing is needed too, which London’s Mayor and council leaders must help to deliver. Preventing homelessness in the first place is the best approach of all.

Another day, another complaint about excessive queues at Heathrow , with Virgin Atlantic today following British Airways, business leaders and the airport’s own boss in warning about the length of delays at passport control. A global Britain demands better. Ministers must end this blight on our nation’s image.