NHS Hospitals Prepare AI Blood Test For Womb Cancer Referrals
AI News reported that NHS hospitals are preparing to use PinPoint Data Science’s AI blood test after a 16,481-patient Yorkshire trial, while patient outcomes, regulatory clearance details and national rollout dates remain outside the public record.
Several NHS hospitals are preparing to use an AI-powered blood test to help identify women at very low risk of womb cancer before they undergo invasive checks.
The PinPoint test is designed to add a risk score to existing cancer referral pathways, helping clinicians decide who can be monitored, who needs further investigation and who should receive faster assessment.
NHS deployment
Mid Yorkshire NHS Teaching Trust plans to use the test across six gynaecological or upper gastrointestinal cancer pathways.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust plans to use it for gynaecological cancer.
Both deployments follow a Yorkshire trial involving 16,481 patients referred through urgent suspected-cancer pathways.
Around 90,000 postmenopausal women in England are referred by GPs each year for checks after experiencing heavy bleeding.
About 10,000 women are diagnosed with womb cancer annually, and around 2,700 die from the disease.
How the risk score works
Developed by Leeds-based PinPoint Data Science, the test uses machine learning to assess cancer risk from around 30 blood markers.
It places patients in low-, elevated- or high-risk categories and costs around £30, according to the company.
PinPoint describes the tool as a multi-cancer test.
It has been used across gynaecological, lung, upper gastrointestinal, head and neck, and lower gastrointestinal cancer pathways.
In the Yorkshire trial, about one in 10 women referred because of heavy bleeding were found to have cancer.
PinPoint said the test correctly identified 99.1% of cancers as elevated or high risk and produced a negative predictive value of 99.8% for women in the lowest-risk group.
The existing diagnostic pathway
Women referred for suspected reproductive-system cancers usually undergo a pelvic examination that includes a transvaginal ultrasound scan.
The procedure involves inserting an ultrasound probe into the vagina to measure the thickness of the womb lining, and some women find it uncomfortable or painful.
If doctors remain concerned, patients may then receive further checks, including a biopsy and hysteroscopy, which examines the inside of the womb.
PinPoint said its test is intended to identify women at very low risk before those procedures are used.
The company said the test could spare about one in five referred women from a transvaginal ultrasound scan.
In England, that would amount to around 18,000 women a year.
Professor Sean Duffy, PinPoint Data Science’s chief medical officer and a former NHS England national clinical director for cancer, said the test’s value lies in ruling out women at very low risk.
Dr Jacinta Walsh, a GP at King’s Medical Practice in Normanton, West Yorkshire, said patients can require up to six GP visits before cancer is ruled out.
She said the test could shorten that process and free capacity for other patients.
Tracy Jackson, a consultant gynaecologist and cancer unit lead at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said most women seen through the current referral route do not have cancer, even though the investigations can be uncomfortable or distressing.
Low-risk patients could be ruled out in primary care, she said, while higher-risk patients could be prioritised for further checks.
Evidence and limits
The planned rollout comes as the NHS expands other AI deployments.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust is using MEMORI at Kent and Canterbury Hospital to assess infection risk from routine patient data, including blood tests, blood pressure, temperature, observations, medications and demographics.
NHS England said an AI triage tool in the NHS App is expected to reach more than 200,000 patients within 12 months and become available to all NHS App users by April 2028.
The government has also committed £20 million to roll out AI-powered chest X-ray tools to all NHS trusts in England by 2029.
Those tools are already available in about half of NHS trusts and have supported assessment for more than four million patients being investigated for lung cancer.
Cancer Research UK described the PinPoint test as promising but said more research is needed to understand its benefits for patients and the NHS.
Samantha Harrison, a spokesperson for the charity, said early detection saves lives, but patients are not currently being diagnosed quickly enough.
Further evidence will be needed to assess how the test affects patient outcomes, referral decisions and NHS diagnostic capacity.
