Because of AI, about a third of urgent skin-cancer referrals at some NHS hospitals got a same-day all-clear without waiting weeks for a dermatologist.

Skin Analytics' DERM, the only AI with Class III CE certification for autonomous use, has assessed 250,000+ NHS patients, identified 25,000+ histology-confirmed cancers, and is expanding to all 18 NHS South East trusts (about 9 million more people) from autumn 2026.

Operational data from the vendor and trusts; at one district hospital the autonomous pathway discharged 37% of referrals and missed one basal cell carcinoma.

Compared with

Autonomous AI triage vs dermatologist face-to-face review (capacity-constrained usual care)

Effect

Discharge-without-appointment rate 26% with dermatologist second read → 37% autonomous (one hospital) (250,000+ assessed; 25,000+ cancers confirmed)

Reach

25 NHS trusts; +18 trusts from autumn 2026; Northern Ireland (1.9M)

Domain

Medicine · Classic ML

Conflicts

Patient and cancer counts come from the vendor's monitoring data.

What would move the grade

Published missed-cancer rates across all autonomous sites, or NICE's post-evidence-generation decision, would move evidence to B.

Sources

• primaryNICE early value assessment of DERM (May 2025) (healthtechdigital.com)
• primaryNIHR HTA: DERM and Moleanalyzer Pro clinical and cost-effectiveness (Feb 2026) (njl-admin.nihr.ac.uk)
• primaryBJD abstract: implementing DERM at an NHS district hospital (citedrive.com)
• secondaryHLTH: NHS South East expands DERM across 18 trusts (hlth.com)

History

• Oct 22, 2026Added.

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