Outcomes for people who experience strokes in England will be vastly improved going forward, thanks to an AI tool which has now been installed at all 107 stroke centres.

The revolutionary scanning system can analyse brain scans and give an immediate response as to the severity of the stroke and whether emergency surgery is needed – a decision which would usually take a specialist doctor up to 30 minutes.

AI is also able to recognise patterns that humans are unable to see, as well as identify strokes in patients who don’t present with the typical signs, such as facial drooping and slurred speech.

It’s estimated that this innovation could triple the rate of recovery by allowing appropriate treatment to start faster. Hospitals who adopted the system early have seen treatment times reduce by an hour and outcomes for people regaining functional independence following strokes improve from 16 per cent to 48 per cent.

“NHS stroke teams have been leading the way in rolling out AI and with every stroke centre now using the technology it is already playing a key role in improving the care of thousands of people in England every year,” says David Hargroves, the NHS national clinical director for stroke.

Strokes occur when blood supply to the brain is cut off, either by a blood clot or a burst blood vessel, causing the loss of up to two million cells a minute. While some people make full recoveries, strokes can be fatal, or result in lifechanging disabilities including paralysis, memory loss, persistent pain, depression, personality changes, communication issues and loss of independence. Around 100,000 people are affected in England each year.