TL;DR
Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital is now using a robot to scan the hands and wrists of patients, a UK first, to speed up diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, the BBC reported on 21 October. The robot, Arthur, carries out the scan; an AI program called Diana reads the images and sends its results to clinicians, so a patient can leave the clinic that day with a plan for treatment.
How it works
The aim is to cut the gap between a patient’s first appointment and the start of treatment. Under the new set-up, a patient can be scanned on the day of their clinic visit, have the images analysed, and receive a decision before going home.
Professor Antoni Chan, a consultant in rheumatology at the trust, explained why speed matters: “Earlier diagnosis is very important as joint damage can occur if treatment is delayed.” He was clear that the system supports rather than replaces doctors: “this does not replace clinician this helps the decision making”.
Scale and ambition
The trust says its Reading rheumatology department does 200 MRI scans of hands each year, with demand growing annually. The hospital hopes the robot will let it see more patients and give people already diagnosed more frequent scans to track how their treatment is working.
Chief executive James Blythe said the technology is in use in seven countries and the trust is the first in the UK to adopt it. The trust describes Arthur as part of wider investment in technology, which it says also includes pharmacy dispensing robots and AI to speed up diagnosis for stroke patients.
Looking forward
The BBC report does not say what the system cost, how Diana’s readings are checked against those of a radiologist, or how many extra patients the hospital expects to scan. Those answers are likely to shape whether other NHS rheumatology departments follow. In our view, the more significant change here is to the patient pathway rather than the technology itself: scanning, image reading and the clinical decision can now happen in a single visit. If Reading publishes outcome data, it will give other trusts a firmer basis for deciding whether same-day diagnosis is worth the investment.