Are we ready for AI?
Written by: Graham Walsh - 17th January 2025
At our last Strategic Advisory Board – a group of stakeholders from across the Yorkshire & Humber region – discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used to transform healthcare. Our Medical Director Graham Walsh reports on AI’s potential and how we need to navigate the risks for greater patient benefit.
There has been a huge amount of popular interest in artificial intelligence over the last few years. The government’s recent announcement to make ‘the UK a leader in the AI sector’ further confirms the pivotal role this industry is set to play. In the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s report ‘Assuring a responsible future for AI‘, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology remarked: “AI is at the heart of the government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.”
Many of us can access tools like Chat GPT and Microsoft CoPilot, while AI is now being baked into computers and other consumer hardware like smartphones. But what does this mean for healthcare? How can patients benefit from the speed and accuracy of AI, while being protected from its limitations and risks?
AI was the topic for our recent Strategic Advisory Board and we were delighted to be joined by over 60 members, who engaged in a lively debate about the pros and cons of this technology. Healthcare is a huge area of potential for AI, as our hosts, the Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling (DAIM) department at the University of Hull are well aware. DAIM launched in 2022 and provides opportunities to collaborate on research projects in healthcare AI.
Lecturer and Director of Research, Dr Will Jones, explained how AI has many applications from analysing medical images, data mining for research, drug development, reviewing patient records to help with prevention, helping manage long-term conditions by checking data from patient apps and wearables, to assisting in hospital admin and logistics. It’s a lot, so where to start?
We should begin by understanding where we stand with AI in the UK at the moment. While it’s easy to see that progress in artificial intelligence is moving fast, we need to be cautious. In the UK, the use of AI in healthcare is regulated to protect patient safety, privacy and confidentiality. Its use raises ethical considerations, including privacy, consent, and accountability.
While AI can be applied to help reduce health inequalities, it can also be biased if the data used to train the models does not represent different communities. And finally, AI will never achieve its full potential if we don’t invest in staff and train a workforce for the future that is ready for AI-driven technology.
What are the barriers to the uptake of AI solutions?
We were pleased to be joined by Louisa Stacey from Ufonia, who spoke about the barriers and challenges they’ve faced getting artificial intelligence used in hospital trusts. Working with fragmented digital infrastructure is a challenge, as it’s providing confidence to clinicians and patients that this is safe and effective.
Tom Hardie, who joined us from The Health Foundation, is calling for the NHS to develop an AI health and care strategy. Their research has found that the public and staff are, on balance, supportive of AI, but worry that it will impact the human dimension of care, and that staff time freed up by tech may not necessarily go on patient care.
This view was supported by Dr Vishal Sharma from Bradford Institute of Health Research. Their Shared CAIRE project has been testing models for the use of AI in shared decision-making. It concluded that AI has a useful role to play in some situations, but clinicians still wanted to see the patient. AI could potentially support decision-making and improve patient safety. It could also be great at managing administrative tasks, such as drafting consultation notes for electronic patient records, and patient letters.
Max Jones from Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board explained how the ICB is trying to stay ahead by creating a vision for AI-enabled personalised and supported care. He says we need to consider AI as a change agent and set ourselves and systems up for success. For the ICB, this means taking a blended approach to use AI to make improvements at different levels of complexity: from personal productivity and reviewing processes, to safety and medically certified tools.
This amazing input from our guest speakers led to lively table discussions between our members on the best ways to deploy AI quickly for patient’s benefit, upskilling staff, and reducing the barriers that could slow us down.
We have some great examples of innovators leveraging AI solutions to enhance patient care while alleviating pressure on frontline staff. An example of this is Klinik Healthcare Solutions, which provides an AI triage and patient management system. Discover more in this video case study
Next steps
It’s important to keep bringing together stakeholders from across the sector, and showcasing best practice, as healthcare providers don’t have time to navigate the landscape of new technologies.
At Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber we are ideally placed to help our NHS colleagues find the most effective AI-led solutions to meet the needs of our diverse communities, improve patient care and increase efficiency in service delivery. We also help SMEs navigate the complexities of our healthcare system and support the spread and adoption of their innovations, generating new job opportunities and investments in our region and beyond with programmes like our Propel@YH digital health accelerator.
AI in healthcare is an unfamiliar territory for many. Our colleagues at UCLPartners have developed a short animation that offers a practical introduction to how AI is being used to enhance patient experience, support clinicians, and improve efficiency.
Our Strategic Advisory Board meets twice a year. Its members include representatives from health and care organisations, Integrated Care Boards, research and academic partners, and other stakeholders who have a role to play in spreading innovation in the region. To find out more about the board or this meeting, get in touch info@healthinnovationyh.org.uk
Date for your diary
Join us alongside The Inform Team on Thu 13 March for a free, in-person event for leaders across various sectors, designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools to drive Microsoft 365 Copilot integration in your organisation.
With a people-first approach to AI adoption, we’ll share insights on crafting effective AI strategies, engaging your team, and supporting a smooth transition to boost efficiency and innovation.