Science and Technology Committee — hearing of 16 June 2026: transcript & video

00:03 - 01:23

Speaker 1

Good morning, welcome to this Select Committee on Science and Technology. We're pursuing our inquiry on the potential for innovations in personalised medicine and AI in medical specialisations. And so we're very pleased to have this morning in our first two witnesses Dr Bernie Croal, President of the Royal College of Pathologists, and Dr Stephen Harden, President of the Royal College of Radiologists. So I'd like to start by asking you both, as you know, our inquiry is investigating the potential of innovations in AI and genomic medicine to provide benefits to patients in the NHS, particularly in the context of personalised medicine. Now, in the specialties that you represent, pathology, radiology, and oncology, can you give us some insight into how you see these innovative technologies, that is AI and genomic medicine, benefiting patients in the NHS?

What are you already seeing and what do you think the potential for these technologies might be? So Dr Harden, why don't you start?

01:23 - 03:19

Speaker 2

Morning, thanks very much for the introduction. I think the way probably this will work, I've got more to say on AI and Dr Croal probably more to say on genomics. But if I just start with a comment on genomics, as Royal College of Radiologists comprises clinical radiology and clinical oncology, and as a result we are quite well placed to influence cancer waiting times both in terms of diagnosis and treatment. As far as genomics is concerned in terms of cancer, it's quite likely that there will be a huge role for genomics to play in terms of risk stratification, risk identification, and advanced diagnosis and treatment, particularly with AI. And from a radiology perspective, we have a process known as radiomics in which we are trying to distil prognostic data out of diagnostic images, so getting down to the fine detail to look for clues of where we can have prognostic benefit.

So combining radiomics with genomics will be a phenomenal advance. Add into that AI and you can see forming a pathway for the patient from initial referral all the way through to treatment, much more effective, much more efficient, and bringing in the latest technology and advances to bear. As far as the current situation is concerned in terms of AI, we are big supporters of AI in healthcare, in imaging in particular. There's a huge potential for AI to make us more effective and potentially more efficient. And what we see to date is that some of the tech is enabling us to certainly become a bit more accurate.

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