NHS adds 125 scanners and puts AI acceleration on 54% of compatible MRI machines

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England said on 3 November 2026 that the NHS in England has added 125 CT and MRI scanners since March 2024 and is now delivering around one million extra scans a year, with AI acceleration software on more than half of compatible MRI machines¹. The figures come from NHS England's 2025/2026 National Imaging Data Collection, published the same morning¹.

What the data shows

The scanner count grew by 125 between March 2024 and March 2026¹. Most of that capacity went into community diagnostic centres rather than acute sites: 107 of the 125 machines¹. Those centres carried out nearly 2.2 million CT and MRI scans in the 12 months to March 2026, an increase of one million on the 12 months to March 2024¹.

The AI element is scan acceleration on MRI. The software reconstructs a high-quality image from less data, which shortens the time each patient spends in the scanner¹. The department says services using it are carrying out on average 14% more scans while image quality holds¹. It is installed in 54% of compatible NHS MRI scanners¹. Every NHS trust will be offered the chance to upgrade its compatible machines by 2029, and the department puts the ceiling on a full rollout at up to 162,000 extra checks a year from equipment the NHS already owns¹.

On the wider diagnostic position, every month of 2026 so far has set an NHS monthly record for diagnostic activity, and the diagnostic waiting list has fallen in three of the five months since April¹. Cancer waiting times are better than a year earlier, and the elective waiting list is down by more than 250,000 since July 2024¹. The £19.2 million Manchester and Trafford Community Diagnostic Centre opened on 29 October 2026¹.

Karin Smyth, Minister of State for Health, said the new scanners and the AI rollout are "helping deliver around a million extra scans every year"¹. Stephen Harden, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, said demand for diagnostic scans is rising and that "it is vital we have the equipment and workforce to scan, diagnose and treat patients efficiently and safely"¹.

What it means for the market

For trusts and imaging networks, this reframes AI imaging procurement as a yield play on installed hardware rather than a capital purchase. The compatible MRI scanners that do not yet have the software are the addressable gap, and the 2029 date gives suppliers a defined window for upgrade deals¹. The stated 14% average gain in scans per service is the number trust finance and operations teams will be asked to reproduce in a business case¹.

It also marks where the activity is going. With 107 of 125 new machines sited in community diagnostic centres, the growth in CT and MRI volume is happening outside acute hospitals, which shapes where vendors sell, where radiology reporting capacity has to sit and how networks route work¹. Harden's comment points at the constraint the announcement does not solve: more images still need radiologists to read them¹.

Caveats

The release gives aggregate national figures and a single average for the effect of acceleration software, with no breakdown by trust, body region or scanner model, and no clinical outcome data attached to the AI component¹. The 14% figure is described as an average across services using the technology, not a measured effect in a controlled comparison¹. The 162,000 extra checks a year is a projection conditional on a full rollout, not a result¹.

The next checkpoint is the 2029 deadline by which every NHS trust is to have been offered the chance to upgrade its compatible MRI scanners¹.