NHS Launches Pioneering AI and Robotic Technology Pilot to Accelerate Lung Cancer Detection

The National Health Service has unveiled a groundbreaking pilot programme combining artificial intelligence and robotic technology to expedite lung cancer diagnosis, potentially reducing weeks of invasive testing to a single half-hour procedure. The initiative, launched at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, represents a significant advancement in early cancer detection methodology.

The innovative approach employs AI software to analyse lung scans rapidly, identifying small nodules with elevated malignancy risk. A robotic camera subsequently guides biopsy instruments through the airways with substantially greater precision than conventional techniques. The robotic system can access nodules as small as 6mm, approximately the size of a rice grain, located deep within lung tissue that would typically prove difficult or hazardous to reach through existing methods.

This technological deployment coincides with the NHS’s commitment to expand lung cancer screening across England within five years, ensuring universal access regardless of geographical location. The expansion forms part of the Government’s National Cancer Plan, which prioritises addressing health inequalities. Lung cancer accounts for a full year of the nine-year life expectancy disparity between affluent and deprived areas of England.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, characterised the project as “a glimpse of the future of cancer detection”. He emphasised that the lung cancer screening programme increasingly identifies cancers at earlier stages, creating heightened demand for safe and precise biopsy techniques such as robotic bronchoscopy.

More than 1.5 million individuals have attended NHS lung health checks since 2021, facilitating the identification of thousands of cancers at more treatable stages. The screening programme expansion is projected to invite 1.4 million people for lung cancer checks in the coming year alone. By 2035, the programme anticipates diagnosing up to 50,000 cancers, with at least 23,000 detected at earlier stages, potentially saving thousands of lives.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting, himself a kidney cancer survivor who benefited from robotic surgical intervention, noted that lung cancer remains one of the United Kingdom’s leading causes of mortality. He observed that the condition disproportionately affects residents of economically disadvantaged regions, reducing life expectancy by an additional year in the poorest communities.

Dr Anne Rigg, Medical Director for Cancer and Surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, described the pilot as deploying “genuinely disruptive tools” to streamline the lung cancer diagnostic pathway. She stressed that the initiative is being co-designed with patients and clinical teams to ensure the pathway proves faster, safer, more equitable and patient-centred. The approach aims to reduce variation in care delivery regardless of referral origin.

The pilot has already demonstrated clinical efficacy. David Lindsay, an IT contractor from Streatham, discovered stage one lung cancer following referral for suspected deep vein thrombosis in September 2025. Imaging revealed an incidental lung nodule, prompting robotic bronchoscopy that confirmed early-stage adenocarcinoma of the left lower lobe. He subsequently underwent minimally invasive robotic surgery to excise the cancer. Lindsay credited the diagnostic process with potentially life-saving early detection, acknowledging that without the incidental finding, the cancer might have progressed to stage four before discovery.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has conducted approximately 300 robotic biopsy procedures during the pilot’s initial phase, with 215 patients subsequently receiving cancer treatment. Other participants were spared more complex interventions following benign results.

The pilot formally launched at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in January, with planned expansion to King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, extending access to the novel diagnostic approach for additional patients with suspected lung cancer.

Dr Jesme Fox, Medical Director at the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, welcomed the initiative, noting that faster and more accurate diagnosis enables earlier detection and improved treatment outcomes. The charity also endorsed the reaffirmed 2030 timeline for complete deployment of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme across England, emphasising that screening through low-dose CT chest scans has already saved thousands of lives by detecting lung cancer at curative stages.

The pilot receives funding through the NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call, administered by SBRI Healthcare. This represents the first NHS pilot integrating Optellum’s AI risk stratification with Intuitive’s Ion robotic bronchoscopy system within a unified end-to-end lung cancer diagnostic pathway. Optellum’s Virtual Nodule Clinic already supports lung nodule assessment across multiple NHS organisations.

Comprehensive evaluation will assess patient and service outcomes, with findings regarding survival rates, waiting times and cost-effectiveness to follow upon pilot completion. Should the trial prove successful, the NHS will develop evidence supporting a national commissioning policy for robotic bronchoscopy, facilitating more consistent technology access across the health service.

NHS data indicates that since targeted lung health checks commenced in 2021, early diagnosis rates for lung cancer have increased more rapidly in the most disadvantaged areas, suggesting positive progress towards reducing health inequalities.