Boris pledges £250m extra to fight dementia
A NEW £250million artificial intelligence laboratory will help boost dementia research, Boris Johnson announced last night.
The Prime Minister pledged the lab will also improve the lives of cancer and heart disease patients.
The money will fund ground-breaking research to spot the signs of dementia, enabling patients to receive treatment far earlier – and perhaps even help prevent the onset of the disease.
Mr Johnson said the funding would enable up to 5million people to be given a free personalised health report based on their DNA.
He added: ‘The NHS is revered for the world-class care it provides every day. But it is also leading the way in harnessing new technology to treat and prevent – from earlier cancer detection to spotting the deadly signs of dementia.
‘Today’s funding is not just about the future of care though. It will also boost the frontline by automating admin tasks and freeing up staff to care for patients. My task is to ensure the NHS has the funding it needs to make a real difference to the lives of staff and patients.
‘Transforming care through artificial intelligence is a perfect illustration of that.’
The funding boost is a victory for the Daily Mail, which has called for improved care for dementia sufferers. We launched a campaign last month calling for a cross-party solution to the crisis of sufferers selling homes to pay for care.
No 10 said AI is already being developed in some hospitals, successfully predicting cancer survival rates and cutting the number of missed appointments. The £250million will be spent on a National Artificial Intelligence Lab to make the UK a world leader in research.
The lab will sit within NHSX, which oversees the digitisation of England’s health and care services. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘We are on the cusp of a huge health tech revolution that could transform patient experience by making the NHS a truly predictive, preventive and personalised health and care service.
‘I’m determined to give the NHS the chance to be the world leader in saving lives through artificial intelligence and genomics.’
Downing Street said the AI lab could improve cancer screening by speeding up the results of tests – helping to save thousands of lives a year. The lab will use predictive models to better estimate future NHS needs for beds, drugs, devices or surgeries.
And it could help identify which patients could be more easily treated in the community.
NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens said: ‘Carefully-targeted AI is now ready for practical application in health services.’
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