NHS artificial intelligence plans revealed

Boris Johnson has pledged £250m in funding to help the NHS implement artificial intelligence (AI) technology that he claims will save countless lives by improving patient care, according to reports.

Announcing the Government’s third NHS handout in as many days, the prime minister said the planned National Artificial Intelligence Lab would revolutionise care and slash waiting times by using data to predict who is most at risk of developing a number of widespread diseases, reports tech news site BusinessCloud.

“The NHS is leading the way in harnessing new technology to treat and prevent, from earlier cancer detection to spotting the deadly signs of dementia,” Johnson said. “Today’s funding is not just about the future of care, though. It will also boost the front line by automating admin tasks and freeing up staff to care for patients.”

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock added that the UK was “on the cusp of a huge health tech revolution that could transform patient experience by making the NHS a truly predictive, preventive and personalised health and care service”.

What will the AI lab do?

The new lab will sit within NHSX, a new organisation “overseeing digital transformations within the health service”, says BusinessCloud.

The advanced computer software will use algorithms that analyse huge amounts of data in order to identify patterns in a range of fields.

AI is “already showing its potential to revolutionise medicine”, adds the BBC, which reports that clinical trials have proven such systems are “as good as leading doctors at spotting lung cancer, skin cancer, and more than 50 eye conditions from scans”.

“This has the potential to let doctors focus on the most urgent cases and rule out those that do not need treatment,” the broadcaster says.

AI could also be used to identify patients at risk of post-operative complications and infections, and those who require follow-up appointments.

And researchers at London’s University College Hospital have already created an algorithm to identify patients who are likely to miss their appointment, in order to call and remind them, says BusinessCloud.

In theory, such developments should result in improved patient safety, lower readmission rates and the reduction of time-consuming administrative tasks for NHS staff.

Will it work?

Medical health experts have greeted the plans with cautious optimism.

The NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, said that “carefully targeted AI” is now ready for practical application in health services, and that the funding pledge is “another step in the right direction to help the NHS become a world leader in using these important technologies”, reports The Guardian.

“In the first instance, it should help personalise NHS screening and treatments for cancer, eye disease and a range of other conditions, as well as freeing up staff time, and our new NHS AI lab will ensure the benefits of NHS data and innovation are fully harnessed for patients in this country,” he added.

But cybersecurity experts are more wary, warning that the digitisation of public services and the need to retrain staff to use the new systems greatly increases the risk of personal data being mishandled.

As the BBC notes, the Royal Free Hospital in London was criticised in 2017 for sharing 1.6 million patient data records with Google’s AI division, DeepMind. The same year, the NHS was hit by a large-scale cyberattack that disrupted hospital and GP appointments.

Matthew Honeyman, a researcher at The King’s Fund health think-tank, claims that “many staff” in the NHS “currently feel that IT makes their life harder, not easier”.

Meanwhile, Adam Steventon, director of data analytics at the Health Foundation, points out that despite the Government’s recent NHS funding pledges, including £1.8bn towards maintaining and rebuilding hospitals, “there remains a £6bn maintenance backlog for supporting basic infrastructure, including IT equipment”.

Stevenson insists that clarity is needed on where the new funding will come from “and whether there may need to be trade-offs”, adding that “with a shortfall of 100,000 staff, the NHS will struggle to sustain current services, let alone take advantage of the benefits of new technology”.