AI helps ED doctors spot fractures as Northern Ireland deploys BoneView through Sectra

Emergency departments (ED) and minor injury units across Northern Ireland are now benefitting from Sectra’s AI that helps clinicians efficiently identify bone fractures. It was deployed quickly at scale by Sectra Amplifier Services, which enables healthcare organisations to integrate AI tools into existing imaging workflows. Using the service, the region’s Business Services Organisation (BSO) Northern Ireland Picture Archiving and Communication System (NIPACS+) programme has rolled out BoneView, a fracture detection algorithm developed by AI firm Gleamer, across all five of the region’s geographic health and social care trusts.

Deployment follows a successful trial at the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, where evaluation showed the algorithm helped ED professionals read x-rays more accurately, with more clinicians delivering correct diagnoses first time.

The region-wide AI deployment is the first to take place in the NIPACS+ programme, one of the UK’s largest integrated diagnostic initiatives.

NIPACS+ has been providing diagnosticians and clinical teams with a single point of access for medical images across multiple disciplines, and has been modernising how radiology, pathology and other diagnostic services can collaborate and better harness imaging technology.Consultant radiologist and SRO of the NIPACS+ programme Dr Anton Collins said: “We’ve closely studied how our ED clinicians have benefitted from this innovative use of AI. This has helped to increase accuracy in the ED to a similar level seen in radiology. The result is fewer missed fractures, improved clinical decisions, enhanced care and fewer patients being called back.”

Further uses for AI already being explored could aid in areas including chest x-rays and digital pathology, where potential exists to help clinicians detect diseases and cancers sooner.

Picture: BSO NIPACS+ senior project manager Jacinta McAtamney, consultant radiologist and SRO of NIPACS+ Dr Anton Collins, NIPACS+ programme manager Joanne Allison, Minister of Health Mike Nesbitt, BSO head of programme delivery Melissa Cochrane and BSO interim director of strategic planning and customer engagement Stephen Beattie.

Published on page 4 of the April 2026 issue of RAD Magazine.