University College London Hospital (UCLH) and the Alan Turing Institute are working together on  Artificial Intelligence to carry out works which are traditionally done by the doctors and nurses; from deciding which accidental and emergency patients to be consulted first to diagnosing cancer on CT scan. The three-year partnership is aiming to bring the AI revolutions to the National Health Services in a larger scale.

“The new project can impact on patient outcomes, drawing parallels with the transformation of the consumer experience by companies such as Amazon and Google. It’s going to be a game-changer. You can go on your phone and book an airline ticket, decide what movies you’re going to watch or order a pizza. It’s all about AI. On the NHS, we’re nowhere near sophisticated enough. We’re still sending letters out, which is extraordinary” says Prof Bryan Williams, director of research at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

UCLH is investing a “significant” amount in the project, is the belief that AI can provide new ways of detecting illness, identifying people at higher risk of disease and directing resources. Like the clinicians can be positioned immediately onwards accordingly. The primary plan is to focus on improving the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

“Machines will never replace doctors, but the use of data, expertise, and technology can radically change how we manage our services – for the better,” said Prof Marcel Levi, UCLH chief executive.

Prof Chris Holmes, director for health at the Alan Turing Institute, said the hope is that doctors and nurses will be freed up to spend more time with patients. “We want to take out the more mundane stuff which is purely information driven and allow time for things the human expert is best at.“We’re critically aware of the patient sensitivity of data governance,” he said. “Any algorithms we develop will be purely in-house.”