ChatGPT has given the world a glimpse of the incredible capabilities and potential of AI artificial intelligence. This ground-breaking software with an uncanny knack for the art of conversation has gained 100 million users in a little over two months. When technological change comes, it comes quickly.
We are already incorporating AI innovation into healthcare to improve patient care and help our workforce. This week, effects of testosterone deficiency NHS Blood and Transplant is backing a new project to help transplant surgeons; they will be able to upload photos of donated organs and an AI device– which has been trained with tens of thousands of images of donor organs – will give an immediate answer on whether it is a good match for the patient.
It’s a different vision of the future to the one many of us imagined from watching sci-fi on TV growing up. But in many ways, today’s AI can be even more transformative, building on the incredible expertise and training of NHS staff and giving them even more tools for success.
It is vital we accelerate the adoption of this life-saving field of science in the NHS. That has been the mission of the NHS AI Lab’s AI in Health and Care Awards, now in their third and final round. Today, we’re announcing our third-round winners, backing nine of the most promising tech projects we can use within the NHS. Since 2019, the awards have invested over £123 million into 86 promising AI schemes which have already supported over 300,000 patients.
One of the new award winners is the Tommy’s App, which uses AI to identify women at the highest risk of premature birth or stillbirth. Led by the University of Bristol, it provides a powerful resource for pregnant women and maternity staff alike, potentially helping us save thousands of families from heartbreak.
Another project we’re backing, led by a start-up called Mendelian, uses AI to read across patients’ records to look for signs of rare diseases.
And one of the most important areas we can use AI is to help in our fight against cancer, which sadly remains one of the leading causes of premature death in this country. Four of today’s award winners are looking at many aspects of cancer, including how the disease starts and why some individuals are more predisposed to it than others.
I’m excited about the potential of these projects and the broader capacity of AI to give us that technological breakthrough we need to see in health.
AI matters for patients because for some conditions the quicker you get a diagnosis, the more likely you are to survive, it’s as clear as that. AI also opens the door for many more ways to self-manage conditions and truly personalise healthcare.
AI also matters for clinicians, giving them even more tools to do their jobs and free up more of their time to respond to patients.
Finally, AI really matters for the future of our NHS. As we recover and renew after the Covid-19 pandemic, we must embrace all the tools we have to cut NHS wait times and ensure people are getting timely diagnoses and treatment, helping us reduce the stresses and strains on the system in the longer-term.
As we approach the 75th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, its founding principles of healthcare free at the point of access delivered by a respected workforce remain unaltered. Now the technological advances brought by AI will help keep NHS treatment amongst the best in the world well beyond its 75th anniversary.
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