The NHS has accelerated a major roll-out of new AI tools in an effort to cut waiting lists. Funding of £10 billion is being provided to overhaul the health service’s technology, digital and data systems over the next three years.
Priority has been given to a new AI triage tool in the NHS App that helps direct patients to the most appropriate NHS service. It is due to reach more than 200,000 patients within the next 12 months and be available to all NHS App users by April 2028.
The tool makes sure patients are directed to the right care first time, whether that’s a GP appointment, pharmacy, A&E, community service or self-care advice. Recommendations are determined by adapting questions depending on responses to get a more detailed view of a patient’s condition.
The technology is being rolled out following a successful trial at a GP practice in Sussex which resulted in a 29 per cent reduction in the number of people queuing on the phone while maintaining patient satisfaction levels. Patients will continue to have the option to use traditional methods to contact their GP practice.
AI scribes
Priority is also being given to the roll out of AI scribes to record clinical interactions between patients and NHS staff to generate real-time transcriptions and clinical summaries. The rollout will start with hospital appointments not requiring an overnight stay, where the use of AI has been proven to significantly reduce the amount of time clinicians spend on admin.
A major NHS study published last year found that AI notetaking tools free up clinicians to spend nearly a quarter more of their time with patients. The study, led by Great Ormond Street Hospital, found that scaling the technology nationally to over 11,000 A&E clinicians in England could create space for more than 9,000 extra A&E consultations each day.
Tens of thousands of NHS staff across south-west London will become the latest to benefit from the tech which is being rolled out across four NHS trusts – St George’s, Epsom and St Helier, Croydon, and Kingston and Richmond.
A pilot in the emergency department at St George’s Hospital in Tooting found that it saved clinicians an average of 47 minutes per shift, allowing each member of staff to see an additional patient every shift.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust are also expanding its AI notetaking programmes to more than 3,000 clinicians following successful pilots.
virtual hospital service
Other plans that are part of the £10 billion investment includes the NHS’s new virtual hospital service – NHS Online. Patients will also be able to use the NHS App to request follow-up appointments after treatment, and NHS-approved digital rehabilitation tools will be available to patient to aid recovery following treatment.
“The major overhaul of tech we’re making over the next few years will transform services,” Sir Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of NHS England, said. “We’re prioritising the improvements that will make the biggest difference and supporting local leaders to adopt them to drive change in their services – helping to cut waiting lists and improve care for millions of patients so that the NHS is fit for the future.”
Dr Ragu Rajan from Wealden Ridge Medical Partnership in Sussex, which ran the initial trial of the AI triage tool in the NHS App, said: “As a rural practice serving 23,000 patients across four sites, we know how hard it can be for people to reach us.
“Integrating AI triage directly into the NHS App means our patients can tell us what they need, when they need it, and be directed to the right care first time. It hasn’t replaced our judgement; it’s given us back the time to use it.”
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