Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Trusts at national forefront for swifter skin cancer diagnosis
Wednesday, 15 July 2026
For patients with suspected skin cancer, the NHS 62-day cancer standard measures the time from when they are referred to the start of their first treatment. Latest NHS statistics reveal NHS Cheshire and Merseyside to be among the highest performing healthcare systems in England for this skin cancer target.
The number of new melanoma skin cancer cases diagnosed annually has risen above 20,000 for the first time in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK. This is placing a great demand on dermatology services.
Despite this, the latest statistics from March 2026 show that in Cheshire and Merseyside 94.5% of patients with a diagnosis of cancer were treated within 62-days of referral, or from being put onto an urgent cancer pathway by a consultant. 91.5% of patients referred with suspected skin cancer were given a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28-days.
All six NHS trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside delivering a diagnostic skin cancer pathway also exceeded the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) of 80%, with five out of six performing above 90%.
The trusts involved have worked for several years on schemes to improve skin cancer performance, through referral improvements, workforce, capacity and demand and pathway transformation.
All have also worked collectively as part of Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative (CMPC), alongside Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance.
All 15 NHS trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside make up CMPC, which works with Cheshire and Merseyside’s Integrated Care Board to improve NHS services across the region.
In Cheshire and Merseyside, over 45,000 referrals were made to the urgent suspected cancer pathway between April 2025 and March 2026. This, part of an ongoing increase in referrals, is something a limited number of specialists are unable to keep up with, potentially contributing to long delays.
To address this, on behalf of Cheshire and Merseyside, CMPC made a successful bid for funding of AI technology designed to help free up NHS resources and reduce waiting times.
As a result, NICE-recommended technology, DERM, from provider Skin Analytics, is now being used across NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.
Impressively, Skin Analytics performance data shows DERM to be 99.9% accurate when ruling out melanoma and 97% sensitive when detecting skin cancer.
The technology recognises cancerous, pre-cancerous and common harmless skin conditions through photographic images taken of a patient’s mole or skin lesion. AI assessment of these helps to support a faster diagnosis.
If any skin lesions are flagged as potentially pre-malignant or malignant, patients receive faster access to care.
In Cheshire and Merseyside, in 2025-26 alone, 4,640 unnecessary face-to-face appointments were avoided in this way, with substantial time and money saved as a result of reduced outpatient appointments and biopsies.
Speaking about his experience at North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust, patient Stephen Campion from Penketh couldn’t quite believe how quick the AI technology was, saying:
“I was amazed by the speed of the AI. The fact that you get seen and diagnosed within minutes rather than having to book a follow-up appointment, was great. The staff there were brilliant too, very friendly and explained clearly what was going on.”
Cheshire and Merseyside’s Secondary Care Lead for Dermatology, Dr Richard Azurdia is positive about the future, stating:
“The latest statistics show that utilising AI within the urgent skin cancer pathway is helping to address the year-on-year problem of increasing referrals, more efficiently.
“We’re hopeful that this innovative technology will help us in the long-term, to ultimately bring down the general waiting lists and improve patient safety.”
NHS Trusts using Skin Analytics AI technology are Liverpool University Hospitals, Mid Cheshire Hospitals, Countess of Chester Hospital, Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, North Cheshire and Mersey, and Wirral University Teaching Hospital.
For more information about the DERM AI project, or Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative, email CMPC@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk.