Smartphones to help detect and diagnose cancer patients quicker

In an age when technology can sometimes feel like it’s taken over, a new smartphone camera lens could soon be saving thousands of people from the devastation of cancer.

With the NHS currently on its knees due to a shortage of staff, not enough funding and many strikes being called to ensure that employees are being paid a fair wage for the gruelling tasks and shifts they continue to take on, they need all the help they can get.

Therefore, it’s no surprise the NHS and other companies are looking to technology for some support to help reduce shockingly large waits in hospitals and also for the most severe diseases, such as cancer, long queues to be seen by specialists.

As it stands, patients are sometimes having to wait months for appointments and to have surgery as the NHS tries to get on top of a life-changing disease that has impacted millions of people in the United Kingdom and worldwide.

Smartphone lens to help combat cancer

While this latest announcement won’t get rid of cancer or even stop it from being as prominent, the fact that a smartphone lens could now help diagnose people quicker and more efficiently is huge news.

This new technology is being called ‘teledermatology’ by NHS officials and is expected to be rolled out across England by next month with dermatologists expected to be able to double the number of people they see in one day with this new piece of kit.

Technology to ease pressure on NHS

It won’t just allow people to be seen quicker, but could also reduce waiting queues in hospitals and doctors for perhaps unnecessary appointments that take up valuable NHS and GP’s time.

It’s not just smartphone technology that is being lined up as a way to help battle cancer by the NHS, but also the new phenomenon of AI is being looked into as a way to help assess skin cancer in patients.