E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N

How AI can support public healthcare

Healthcare costs are rising as personalised treatments come of age . We are close to a future where the number of care pathways being managed could be as numerous as the number of patients being treated . This is a phenomenal achievement for modern medicine but provides health systems with a significant challenge – how to safely provide significantly more individual care management within the constraints of a publicly funded system .

AI is key to a future of personalised care

Working out who , both staff and patient , needs to be where and when and receiving what treatment , can no longer be managed by human intuition alone . AI can compute and advise on the best permutations of patient , bed , theatre , clinician and diagnostic in a way that humans will never be able to .

Health systems are in the foothills of using the huge advances in AI technology to support these processes , for example , predicting when patients will decline , what their future clinical needs might be or when they need to change care settings .

With this additional information , clinicians and operational staff can make informed choices about how to use limited resources to maximise clinical outcomes and patient experience .

How we can unlock the power of AI

As the delivery of clinical care is now mostly digitised and with the significant investments going into data platforms , including NHSE ' s Federated Data Platform and the Trusted Research Environment programme , we are now able to access the data we need to deliver on this personalised care future .

The next step is to capture the potential of AI in actively driving future health system processes .

AI is high up the agenda of the majority of health system boards , but often without an understanding of what needs to be done next .

Trusts and local care systems should use their data to rapidly prototype algorithms to aid clinical and operational decision-making .

They must access skilled data scientists who understand health datasets .

These are currently in short supply in public health systems so looking to other industries or bringing in expertise from private organisations is needed .

Boards also need to bring the public and patients along with them – the fear of AI replacing Doctors is a real one , but easily overcome through engagement and sensible applications of AI to care pathway management .

Without AI , the future of personalised clinical pathways will neither safe nor affordable .

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