Artificial Intelligence unleashed to bring down NHS waiting lists

The power of Artificial Intelligence will be unleashed in the latest effort to slash NHS waiting lists and free Britain’s public services from red tape. Health Secretary Wes Streeting is betting AI can deliver “huge benefits” for patients and frontline staff by helping people get out of hospital and home to family faster.

New technology is been tested at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust. The hi-tech tool helps doctors draft discharge documents quickly by taking the key details of diagnoses and test results from medical records. The Department for Health and Social Care claims this could provide the support “NHS staff have been crying out for”.

The documents are reviewed by a flesh and blood medical expert and then used to discharge a patient from a ward and onto any other care service they may need. Today’s discharge system is “outdated”, the department claims, and “can leave patients on wards unnecessarily for hours, waiting for time-pressed doctors providing urgent care to sit down and fill in forms before they can go home”.

In some cases, it admits, the present system means patients are put “in harm’s way” because of inaccuracies in basic details about treatments and medications.

Health Secretary Mr Streeting said: “This potentially transformational discharge tool is a prime example of how we’re shifting from analogue to digital as part of our 10-year health plan. We’re using cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future and tackle the hospital backlogs that have left too many people waiting too long.

“Doctors will spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, getting people home to their families faster and freeing up beds for those who need them most.”

The new AI tool has been put on the “NHS-federated data platform” – which is being used to connect health and care services. If the tests are successful, the technology will be used across the country.

A further AI project is designed to help probation officers by taking notes in their meetings with offenders who have left prison. The Government claims it has halved the time spent organising notes and will be given to “all 12,000 probation officers” later this year.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This is exactly the kind of change we need: AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services. This Government inherited a public sector decimated by years of under-investment and is crying out for reform.

“These AI exemplars show the best ways in which we’re using tech to build a smarter, more efficient state. When we get this right across Government, we’re talking about unlocking £45billion in productivity gains – delivering our plan for change and investing in growth not bureaucracy.”

In the planning system, AI will convert “decades-old, handwritten planning documents and maps into data in minutes”. The Government boasts the technology will “slash the 250,000 estimated hours spent by planning officers each year manually checking these documents”.