An AI technology already conducting one in nine urgent skin cancer assessments across the NHS is now certified for use on a standard smartphone. The development, unveiled at HLTH Europe, brings autonomous, clinical-grade cancer detection out of a clinical setting.
Developed by British healthtech company Skin Analytics, DERM Zero is the only smartphone-compatible programme regulated to Class III according to the company, the EU’s highest medical device standard. For patients, that means a clinical-grade skin cancer check can now be delivered through their healthcare provider in seconds, in primary care, in a pharmacy, or in community settings, all without requiring a hospital appointment or specialist equipment.
DERM Zero builds on six years of use in clinical pathways across 24 NHS hospitals , where DERM has assessed more than 230,000 patients, identified over 20,000 cancers and has been independently proven to perform at least as well as a face-to-face dermatologist assessment.
DERM Zero provides dermatologist-level reassurance without the need for a second review by a clinician, setting it apart from other skin check apps already available. Skin lesions with no concern are definitively marked as such, while suspect lesions are flagged for clinical review.
Every cancer detected through Skin Analytics’ NHS deployments is validated against histopathology, the diagnostic gold standard for cancer.
For healthcare providers, DERM Zero creates a new entry point into the suspected skin cancer pathway, sitting upstream of the clinic, the GP referral and the wait. ICBs can use it to validate cases before they become referrals; Trusts can use it to triage existing waiting lists.
The result is a system-level way to manage demand actively rather than absorb it. Across current NHS deployments, DERM already supports the autonomous discharge of up to 40% of urgent suspected skin cancer referrals. DERM already supports the autonomous discharge of up to 40% of urgent suspected skin cancer referrals, freeing specialist time for the cases that genuinely need it.
The launch comes as the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, published in July 2025, commits to making AI-powered skin cancer pathways the standard of care across the NHS by 2028, citing Skin Analytics’ work as an example of how AI is already improving patient access and streamlining dermatology services. DERM Zero gives NHS trusts and integrated care boards a regulated, evidenced tool to act on that commitment now, ahead of mandated adoption.
Giving evidence to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee in July 2025, Skin Analytics founder Neil Daly told MPs that scaled across the NHS, AI-powered skin cancer pathways could clear waitlists within a couple of years while saving the health service approximately 35 million GBP annually, by finding more cancers earlier and reducing the cost of late-stage treatment.
Neil Daly, Founder and CEO of Skin Analytics said: “By the end of today, six British citizens will die of melanoma. We’ve spent six years proving that AI can match a dermatologist’s accuracy inside the NHS. DERM Zero is the moment that capability moves from the clinic into everyone’s pocket.
“We’re building new models of care with partners across Europe. This is the turning point when a skin cancer assessment will become as everyday as getting an ECG for AFib detection on a smartwatch. We see a world where no one dies of skin cancer, and this is how we get there.”
In practice, DERM Zero enables a fundamental redesign of the urgent suspected skin cancer pathway. Rather than a patient’s first clinical interaction being a specialist appointment, DERM Zero becomes the triage point, meaning hospitals can stratify demand before it reaches secondary care, reduce unnecessary face-to-face appointments and focus specialist time on confirmed high-risk cases.
For patients, particularly those in areas with the longest waits or least access to specialist services, DERM Zero removes the single biggest barrier to early detection. Clinical-grade assessment is no longer dependent on geography, referral speed or specialist availability.
Skin cancer is Europe’s most commonly diagnosed cancer, with more than a million new cases annually, and demand on dermatology services is rising faster than workforce capacity can absorb. In the UK alone, urgent skin cancer referrals have increased 170% over the last decade. DERM Zero is designed to meet that demand without requiring a proportional increase in specialist resource.
Dr Alexandra Kemp, Consultant Dermatologist and Trust Cancer Clinical Director at Amersham Hospital, part of Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “As a consultant dermatologist, I’ve assessed thousands of skin lesions for potential skin cancer. Since we first employed DERM in our skin cancer pathway, there has been a great impact on our clinical capacity, and it has made a real difference to the efficiency of the care we can provide. When it comes to skin cancer, we know early diagnosis means better outcomes. To see this technology available on a smartphone, with no specialist equipment required, creates huge possibilities for expanding patient access and enabling earlier diagnosis.”
Skin Analytics says it is working with UK and European partners to make DERM Zero available from June 2026.
