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125 new scanners, and software that squeezes 14% more scans out of the machines you already have

Qurexa Editorial Team3 November 20269 min read 0 0
125 new scanners, and software that squeezes 14% more scans out of the machines you already have

What happened

The government and NHS England said on 3 November 2026 that the NHS in England can now carry out around one million more CT and MRI scans every year than it could two years ago. Two things made that possible. The first is new machines. Between March 2024 and March 2026, the NHS added 125 extra CT and MRI scanners. Most of them - 107 of the 125 - went into community diagnostic centres. These are sites away from main hospitals, often closer to where people live, set up to do tests and nothing else. Those centres carried out nearly 2.2 million CT and MRI scans in the year to March 2026. That is about a million more than they managed in the year to March 2024. The second thing is software. The NHS is rolling out what it calls AI acceleration software on MRI scanners. An MRI scan works by taking lots of readings and building them into a picture. The software fills in some of that picture using patterns it has learned from thousands of previous scans, so the machine does not need to collect quite as many readings itself. The result is a shorter scan. On average, services using it get through about 14% more scans while keeping the image quality good enough for a radiologist to read. That software is now installed in 54% of the NHS MRI scanners that can take it. The government says every NHS trust will be offered the chance to upgrade its compatible scanners by 2029. If it goes into all of them, the existing machines could deliver up to 162,000 more checks a year without a single new scanner being bought. The figures come from NHS England's 2025/26 National Imaging Data Collection, published the same day. Alongside the numbers, a new community diagnostic centre opened in Manchester and Trafford on 29 October 2026. It cost £19.2 million.

Why this matters

Scans are how a lot of serious illness gets found. If you go to your GP with a symptom that might be cancer, the next step is usually a test - and very often that test is a scan. Until the scan happens and someone reads it, nobody can tell you what is going on. That gap is the bit patients describe as the hardest part. Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer, put the clinical case simply: 'The earlier cancer is diagnosed, the more treatment options there are.' That is not a slogan. For many cancers, the difference between finding it early and finding it late is the difference between a straightforward operation and months of harder treatment. So the size of the queue for a scan is not an administrative detail. It is part of how well the health service works. There is a second reason this matters, and it is about where the scan happens. Putting 107 of the 125 new scanners into community diagnostic centres is a deliberate choice. A big hospital is often the hardest place for an unwell person to get to: parking, long corridors, waiting areas full of people, a journey across a county. A smaller site nearer home is easier. Karin Smyth, Minister of State for Health, said the new Manchester and Trafford centre would let people 'be checked quickly and conveniently in the community'. For anyone in a largely rural county - Lincolnshire included - that principle of bringing the service closer to the person, rather than always asking the person to travel to the service, is the part worth watching.

What the evidence actually says

It is worth being precise about what has and has not been shown here, because 'AI in the NHS' is a phrase that gets stretched a long way. The AI in this story is not diagnosing anything. It is not deciding whether you have cancer, and it is not replacing a radiologist. It does one narrow job: it reconstructs an image from fewer readings, so the machine can finish sooner. A human doctor still looks at the picture and makes the call. The 14% figure is an average across services using the software. Some will do better, some worse, depending on which scanners they have and what they scan. The 162,000 extra checks a year is a projection, not a result. It assumes full rollout. Today the software is in 54% of compatible machines, so that number has not happened yet. On waiting times, the official position is that things are moving in the right direction rather than fixed. The overall elective care waiting list is down by more than 250,000 since July 2024. Every month of 2026 so far has set a monthly record for NHS diagnostic activity. The diagnostic waiting list fell in three of the five months from April. Cancer waiting times are better than last year. Read that carefully. 'Fell in three of the five months' means it went up in two. Record activity means the NHS is doing more tests than ever, which is not the same as everyone being seen quickly. Both can be true at once, because demand is rising too. Dr Stephen Harden, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, made that point in welcoming the announcement: 'Demand for diagnostic scans is rising, so it is vital we have the equipment and workforce.' The workforce half of that sentence is the bit the machines cannot solve. A scanner produces an image. Someone trained has to read it. For context, the NHS says an MRI scan takes between 15 minutes and one hour, depending on which part of the body is being looked at.

Qurexa perspective

There is an honest connection here, and it is not about scanners. The thinking behind community diagnostic centres is that a health service works better when it travels to the patient rather than the other way round. We think that is right, because it is the same reason prescription delivery exists. A medicine that is sitting in a pharmacy you cannot easily get to is not doing its job. The practical overlap comes after a scan. A diagnosis is usually the start of a treatment plan, and treatment plans very often mean new medicines, repeat prescriptions and a routine to keep up with - sometimes while you are tired, anxious or waiting for the next appointment. That is the stage where things slip. If you are in that position in Lincolnshire, our prescription delivery and medication adherence support are there to take one job off the list. We will not pretend that changes anything about your scan or your results. It just means the medicine arrives.

Practical advice

A few things worth knowing if you are waiting for, or have been offered, a scan. **Say yes to the community centre if you are offered one.** If the choice is a community diagnostic centre next month or the main hospital in three months, the community site is usually the faster route to an answer. It is the same scan, read to the same standard. **Check where your appointment actually is.** With 125 new scanners spread across new sites, the address on your letter may not be the hospital you expected. **Do not cancel without rebooking there and then.** A missed slot is the biggest avoidable cause of delay, for you and for the person behind you. **Ask what happens next, and when.** Who will contact you with the result, roughly how long it should take, and what to do if you hear nothing. Write the answer down. **Tell them about metal before an MRI, every time.** Pacemakers, implants, surgical clips, metal fragments from an old injury. Say it even if nobody asks, and mention it again on the day. **Chase it if the time passes.** If you were told two weeks and it has been four, ring the department. A polite phone call is not a nuisance. **If a symptom changes while you wait, do not wait.** A scan in the diary is not a reason to sit on something getting worse. Contact your GP, or NHS 111, or go to A&E if it is urgent.

What to know

The NHS in England has added 125 CT and MRI scanners since March 2024, 107 of them in community diagnostic centres, and can now do roughly a million more scans a year. AI software that shortens MRI scans is in 54% of compatible machines and is getting services about 14% more scans out of the same equipment, with full rollout offered to every trust by 2029 and a projected 162,000 extra checks a year if that happens. The AI shortens scans. It does not read them or diagnose anything - a radiologist still does that. The direction is genuinely positive: record diagnostic activity, an elective waiting list down more than 250,000 since July 2024, and better cancer waiting times than last year. The honest caveat is that demand is rising too, the diagnostic waiting list still went up in two of five recent months, and the Royal College of Radiologists has flagged that equipment alone is not enough without the staff to read the images. If you are offered a scan at a community diagnostic centre, it is usually the quickest route to an answer. Check the address, keep the appointment, and ask who will contact you with the result. Sources: GOV.UK (Department of Health and Social Care), 'One million more scans to help catch cancer sooner', 3 November 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/one-million-more-scans-to-help-catch-cancer-sooner; NHS England, 'Diagnostics waiting times and activity' statistics, https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/; NHS, 'MRI scan', https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/mri-scan/ This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If you are worried about a symptom, contact your GP or NHS 111 rather than waiting for a scheduled test.

#NHS#cancer diagnosis#MRI#artificial intelligence#community diagnostic centres#waiting lists

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