NHS Confederation responds to NHS England’s announcement on national roll out of AI tool

Responding to NHS England’s announcement that an AI tool to predict falls and viruses will be rolled out nationally, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 

“The rollout of this new artificial intelligence tool is a very welcome move that can reduce falls and hospital admissions – so both preventing harm to patients and saving money. It is yet another example of the exciting opportunities that AI offers the healthcare sector.

“But with many innovative uses of AI rapidly developing, it’s important that while we keep an open mind to these opportunities we also adhere to frameworks and guidance to ensure any use of technology is robustly evaluated for patient care, level of productivity and overall impact on the NHS. There is a lot of untapped potential but much of it is not fully understood. We need to make sure we are using tools that solve genuine problems NHS organisations or staff are facing. 

“Investing in the digital technologies such as AI the NHS needs to provide patients with a service fit for the 21st century is crucial to the government’s ambitions of moving from an analogue system to one that is fully digitised. But the NHS needs to be supported to improve the digital infrastructure that underpins the latest technologies.”