Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in supporting (1) the diagnosis of stroke in patients, and (2) the prescription of drugs to stroke patients.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to analyse and interpret acute stroke brain scans to support doctors when diagnosing and making treatment decisions in 100% of stroke units in England. Early data has shown a reduction in the average amount of time taken to assess and treat patients, from 140 to 79 minutes, tripling the chance of independent living following a stroke, when these tools are employed.

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems are tools which use AI to assess patient data and suggest medication that could be prescribed, though the final decision is always made by a clinician. CDS systems are in use across the United Kingdom and can be used to support clinicians prescribing medication to stroke patients.