AI and the NHS: How artificial intelligence will change everything for patients and doctors Posted on : Nov 15 - 2018

The current UK government has made its vision for artificial intelligence use in the NHS very clear. It wants AI, data and innovation to "transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases by 2030", with the UK to be "at the forefront of the use of AI and data in early diagnosis, innovation, prevention and treatment".

Under this vision, AIs could ultimately become the first point of contact for the sick instead of a human doctor, could help healthcare professionals to diagnose medical conditions, and even monitor individuals' health by analysing data from their wearable devices or smart-home sensors.

It's a huge ambition for a set of technologies that are still developing, and whose use is relatively restricted in the health service today. Can AI really make a difference to the future of the NHS?

Certainly there are signs of a growing appetite in the health service for AI technology: around half of NHS trusts are now said to be investing in artificial intelligence in some form.

To date, that adoption has been broadly with a view to achieve one of two aims: to improve clinical practice, using AI to help doctors and other medical personnel with their diagnoses, or to improve administration and support, using AI to streamline day-to-day office management and resource allocation.

Using AI to make the NHS' support and administration functions more effective may be less exciting, but just as necessary. AI can be used for more efficient resource scheduling and dealing with routine admin, helping save money rather than patients' lives. One trial is using AI chat bots as the first line of contact for patients phoning the NHS instead of getting straight through to a human, for example. Thanks to the general underfunding of the NHS and growing demands on its resources, it's these uses of AI that are likely to make the biggest contribution to the NHS in the short term.

On the pure health side, there are also a number of trial projects that use various elements of AI and machine learning. The NHS' most visible uses of AI in this field are those where it's collaborating with Google's DeepMind AI arm: DeepMind has partnered with the likes of the Moorfields Eye Hospital to train an AI to scan images of patients' retinas for signs of eye disease and make treatment recommendations, and learning to assist with radiotherapy planning by working with University College London Hospitals trust.

The use of AI in work with patients will be slower to develop of the two areas, as far more testing will be needed, and various ethical concerns will need working out. However, there are a handful of specific clinical use cases where use of AI is likely to see stronger take-up in the near future, such as reading scans to check for evidence of new disease, or the progression of an existing condition. With enough solid data, AIs should be able to read scans faster than human doctors, and with at least the same level of accuracy. View More