Health Services: Artificial Intelligence

(asked on 24th January 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral statement of 9 January 2023 on NHS winter pressures, Official Report, column 287, what interventions using artificial intelligence his Department is considering for wider implementation.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 2nd February 2023

The Department is funding the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award, which is accelerating the testing and evaluation some of the most promising artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can support clinicians in diagnosis, monitoring disease and managing health conditions at home.

The Award has provided more than £100 million to 77 AI technologies which are live in 53 hospitals in the United Kingdom.

The Department has also provided £800,000 to Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) to fund 16 data-driven projects, including ‘machine-learning’, to pin-point and overcome pressures in the health care system.

The HDR UK projects are due to start early this year and will share their findings later in the year.

The Department is also piloting operational efficiency and workforce productivity tools that can help significantly reduce elective care waiting lists, which will also help to relieve some of the pressures caused by winter. The tools have been developed as part of the NHS National Data Platform. During the proof-of-concept stage, they helped Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust achieve a 46% reduction in their inpatient waiting list, improved theatre utilisation by 6% and re-prioritised more than 2,000 patients.

This proof-of-concept has since transitioned to a pilot and the tools are now being tested in 27 trusts. The pilot will report its finding in March 2023.

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