An innovative mobile health clinic that screens and tests thousands of homeless and other vulnerable people in London each year has been equipped with high-tech software allowing it to reach even more people.

The Find and Treat van, which operates from University College London Hospitals as part of NHS Digital’s Future Wireless Project Trials, screens, diagnoses and treats a range of conditions such as tuberculosis, Covid, flu, hepatitis B and C, HIV, cardiovascular disease and sexually transmitted infections.

Over 4,000 people are diagnosed with TB in England each year according to the UK Health Security Agency. The Find and Treat unit screens about 10,000 vulnerable people in the capital for infectious diseases in that time.

NHS Digital said the van has been given new innovations "to enable real-time remote diagnosis and referrals" including a digital portable X-ray camera, artificial intelligence, a tele-radiology network to remotely read X-rays using flat-pack satellites, 4G and 5G routers, roaming SIM cards and smart antenna systems.

NHS Digital’s Director of Infrastructure Services Patrick Clark said "high-speed connectivity" was vital to ensuring healthcare "is accessible for everyone and reliable".

"The multiple wireless connectivity options on board UCLH’s high-tech Find and Treat mobile unit are enabling sophisticated digital solutions to be used to help vulnerable patients get diagnoses quickly and easily without needing to visit a hospital," he said.

"We’ll be monitoring the impact of the Find and Treat scheme in London and considering how such initiatives might be successfully adopted elsewhere to reach those least able to access healthcare."