AI helping ease the UK’s NHS burden

The words “pressure” and “NHS” go hand in hand in the UK and unfortunately there is no sign of a reduction in the strain the institution suffers any time soon. As NHS England continues the struggle to reduce its 7.25 million waiting list, new policies are being introduced to move care away from hospitals and into the community, despite GPs’ warning of increased workloads and risk to patients. Add in looming doctor strikes and deepening staff shortages and the backdrop of the health service does not look rosy.

In a bid to relieve some of the burden, AI-enabled virtual care is emerging as a tool to manage the growing number of patients outside hospital settings. The technology is being implemented to help around three important areas – waiting lists, hospital capacity, and corridor care.

Michael Macdonnell, Deputy CEO at European virtual care provider Doccla, who has first-hand experience working in the NHS, commented, “The NHS is facing unprecedented pressure, with a 7.2 million patient waiting list, patients waiting in ambulances and in corridors, without the growing budgets of previous years.”

“AI underpins how virtual care works at scale. Machine learning models are used to id...