Health and Social Care Update

Karin Smyth Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Written Statements

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

I would like to inform the House of several updates from the Department of Health and Social Care over the conference recess.

National Commission on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

This Government have established the national commission into the regulation of AI in healthcare. This marks a major step forward in the Government’s mission to make the NHS the most AI-enabled healthcare system in the world.

This is a bold new initiative to lead the UK’s efforts in shaping safe, effective, and trusted AI regulation. The national commission will advise the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, our globally renowned healthcare product regulatory body, on the development of a new regulatory framework for AI and software as medical devices, to be published in 2026. This framework will ensure the UK is the fastest and safest place to bring AI-driven health technologies to market, supporting both NHS transformation and building public trust, while positioning the UK as a global hub for health tech investment and providing valuable insights for our international partners.

The national commission will consist of a diverse panel of experts, including clinicians, patient representatives, international experts, innovators, and regulators. The national commission will be chaired by Professor Alastair Denniston (Head of the UK’s Centre of Excellence in Regulatory Science in AI and Digital Health), with Dr Henrietta Hughes (Patient Safety Commissioner) as deputy chair.

Cloud Based AI tool

The Department of Health and Social Care, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is partnering with NHS England to create the AI research screening platform, a single, secure national infrastructure where AI tools can be installed, tested, and integrated with local screening services for research across all NHS trusts.

AI could transform NHS screening by improving early detection, speeding up diagnosis, and easing pressure on staff. Yet progress is limited: many promising tools remain stuck in pilots because there is no reusable, scalable digital infrastructure to evaluate them. Each study currently requires bespoke IT systems that are costly, slow, and unsustainable.

AIR-SP will enable large-scale, rigorous evaluation by comparing AI analysis of screening images with standard clinical pathways. The platform will support multiple NHS, academic, and industry-led research studies, accelerating safe AI deployment.

Building on the NHS digital screening programme, the initial focus will be on mammograms, retinal images, and lung CT scans, with future expansion to other imaging data. As part of the life sciences sector plan, AIR-SP will strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in health AI, delivering faster diagnoses and better outcomes for patients.

Fair Pay Agreement

The Government intend to introduce the first-ever fair pay agreement for adult social care in 2028, backed by £500 million in funding to improve pay and terms and conditions for adult social care workers. This will complement the wider programme of workforce reforms under way to reform adult social care by improving recruitment and retention and giving staff better recognition for their vital work.

The funding is part of the £4 billion available for adult social care in 2028-29 and will be given to local authorities to support providers in improving pay and terms and conditions.

A public consultation on the design of the fair pay agreement process is now open until 16 January 2026. The consultation will inform the development of regulations, intended to be laid in 2026, establishing the adult social care negotiating body composed of employer and employee representatives. Negotiations are expected to begin in 2027, with implementation of the first FPA expected in 2028.

Over this Parliament, alongside our changes to the minimum wage and new measures in the Employment Rights Bill, care workers will receive one of the biggest upgrades in their pay, rights and conditions in a generation.

NHS Online

On 30 September, the Government announced they will be setting up an “online hospital”, NHS Online—a significant reform to the way healthcare is delivered.

This innovative new model of care will not have a physical site; instead, it will digitally connect patients to expert clinicians anywhere in England. It will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need at home, having chosen to be referred to NHS Online by their GP. The first patients will be able to use the service from 2027.

NHS Online is part of achieving the Governments ambitions outlined in the 10-year health plan, which holds a radical and sustainable vision for how we think about elective care, with digital being the default and hospital attendances the exception.

NHS Online will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years, four times more than an average trust.

Patient choice remains central to care. In-person care will always be available for those who prefer and for those whose care needs require it. NHS Online will free up capacity for face-to-face appointments.

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