UK’s National Health Service (NHS) announced rolling out of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) triage tool in the mobile application, to help prioritize patients’ urgency and streamline other medical services, as part of a larger AI adoption in Britain’s healthcare system.
According to a statement released by NHS on July 4, the new AI triage tool has been rolled on, following a successful trial and is set to reach more than 200,000 patients within the next year. The AI tool will be available for all NHS app users by April 2028.
An AI triage tool is an AI system that uses automation to assess, prioritize and route incoming requests by customers. It’s most commonly used in healthcare and customer support services in businesses.
“The tool makes sure patients are directed to the right care, first time – whether that’s a GP appointment, pharmacy, A&E, community service or self-care advice – by adapting questions depending on responses to get a more detailed view of a patient’s condition,” said the NHS in a statement.
The NHS also informed that the AI triage tool has been rolled out under £10 billion of funding received for major overhaul of U.K.’s health service’s technology, digital and data systems.
NHS UK said the investment in digital, data and technology systems is expected to deliver around half of the commitments in the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, generating an estimated £41 billion in benefits over the next decade.
Additionally, NHS is also looking to introduce the usage of technology powered by AI to enable the recording of consultations and generating clinical notes and summaries automatically, thus making the work of the doctors easier.
A test of the new technology in St Georges Hospital showed that it increased the time spent by doctors with their patients because the work of documentation and paperwork was reduced.
Additionally, digitalization will provide online meetings with specialists within the NHS. Digitalization includes the creation of a single patient file that provides for better sharing of information, improved cybersecurity, and the use of Microsoft Copilot among 500,000 health workers to help doctors minimize the amount of time spent on administration work.
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