UK National Health Service to use AI for faster care delivery, as part of £10bn programme
The rollout includes AI triage and notetaking tools, the Single Patient Record and other modernisation efforts that are expected to generate £41bn in benefits over the next decade
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced that it is planning “a major rollout of new artificial intelligence tools” across its operations to speed up care delivery and slash waiting times for millions of patients.
Setting out the plan on 4 July, the NHS described an “overhaul” of its technology, digital and data systems that would fulfil at least half of the commitments outlined in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan.
The aim of the 10 Year Health Plan, which was published in July 2025, is to replace two-thirds of outpatient appointments, which costs a total of £14bn (US$19bn) a year.
The latest AI rollout, which is supported by £10bn (US$13.3bn) in government funding over the next three years, will include an AI triage tool and AI notetaking tool and is expected to generate £41bn (US$54.8bn) in total benefits over the next decade.
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AI triage tool
One of the AI products to be rolled out is a triage tool that citizens can access through the NHS App. The tool is designed to help patients find the health service most suited to their needs – whether a GP appointment, accident and emergency (A&E), pharmacy, or community and self-care facilities.
It works by adapting questions depending on patient responses to get a more detailed view of a their condition, and then either directing them to the most appropriate service or providing clinicians with the information they need to prioritise care.
The NHS said that a trial of the triage tool at a Sussex-based GP practice had led to a 29% reduction in the number of people waiting to be spoken to over the phone “while maintaining patient satisfaction”.
Commenting on the latest rollout announcement, James Murray, who was appointed UK health and social care secretary in May this year, said: “By harnessing the power of AI – using it to direct people to the right service first time and giving clinicians back more time to spend with patients – we’re making the NHS work better for patients and staff alike and helping make it fit for the future.”
The triage tool is expected to reach more than 200,000 patients within the next year and be available to all NHS App users by April 2028. Patients will be given the choice of either continuing to use traditional methods of contacting their GP practice, or using the new AI triage tool.
The NHS App was described by Wes Streeting, the UK’s then-health and social care secretary, as “a doctor in your pocket”, last year. Streeting said that the app would help to keep every patient “fully informed of their healthcare” and make accessing NHS services akin to “doing your banking or shopping online”.
Global Government Forum’s research study, A Fresh Mandate for Digital Leadership in the NHS, pinpoints four priority areas to enable the analogue to digital vision set out by the government: modernising funding, bolstering skills and capability; tackling fragmentation; and resetting the role of the digital centre.
It is based on interviews with chief digital and information officers in NHS trusts in England and was led by Andrew Besford, former deputy director at the Government Digital Service and non-executive director and chair of the digital committee at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust. Read the report now
Ambient voice technology, Single Patient Record, and more
The rollout will also feature AI notetaking tools that reduce admin for NHS staff. The software, known as ‘ambient voice technology’, can record conversations between patients and NHS staff, producing “real-time transcriptions and clinical summaries”.
According to the NHS, the tools have been shown to “significantly reduce the time clinicians spend on administration”, allowing them to spend “up to a quarter more of their time with patients”.
A study by Great Ormond Street Hospital – one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals, in London – found that scaling the technology nationally to more than 11,000 A&E clinicians in England “could create space for an additional 9,000 A&E consultations each day”.
The NHS will also introduce a Single Patient Record – a digital record that “brings together a patient’s health information in one secure, easy-to-access place” – to provide specialists across the NHS with a full picture of a patient’s medical history.
Other rollouts that form part of the £10bn technology, digital and data investment include:
- NHS App users being able join online appointments with clinicians across England using the new virtual hospital service, NHS Online.
- The ability for patients to use the NHS App to request follow-up appointments after treatment.
- New digital tools to help staff manage urgent and planned patient care more effectively.
- The rollout of Microsoft Copilot to more than 500,000 NHS staff. (The AI assistant will help staff to draft documents and analyse data more efficiently and is expected to cut the amount of time they spend on admin by an average of two days per month).
- The enhancement of cybersecurity to protect patient data and NHS systems.
- And digital tools designed to help patients with common heart and lung conditions to manage exercise and rehabilitation.
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said “the major overhaul of tech we’re making over the next few years will transform services”.
He added that the NHS was “prioritising the improvements that will make the biggest difference and supporting local leaders to adopt them to drive change in their services – helping to cut waiting lists and improve care for millions of patients”.
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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