We brought together patients, care providers, support group leaders and service managers to better understand a phenomenon that many of us have sensed for some time but rarely examined directly: scanxiety.

Scanxiety is the anxiety associated with diagnostic imaging; the waiting before the scan, feelings during the scan, and most acutely, the period while waiting for results. It is not confined to patients. It extends to families, to friends, and, as we heard clearly during our discussion, to care providers working in a system that is stretched beyond the limits it was designed for.

The discussion this paper is based on took place at the same time as the NHS ConfedExpo which featured numerous sessions on AI, including the ‘AI Hackathon in Health’, sponsored by Google Health. With a new Government in the UK, the thorny issue of how to manage technology and AI deployment in the NHS has never been more important. Stakeholders from across the NHS as well as the AI and technology industry took part in the discussion on 11th June 2024. This paper summarises their contributions and highlights the key issues discussed and priority areas for action.

The discussion covered Emergency Department performance, possible areas for improvement, and the productive use of diagnostics as an integral element of this. Ten leading Emergency Department clinicians from across the country took part in the discussion and have contributed to this paper, summarising the key topics and priority areas for action.