Yorkshire health leader welcomes landmark new AI recommendations
Posted: 10th September 2026
New recommendations for a regulatory framework for using AI in healthcare have been hailed as an important step forward for both innovators and patients – by the Yorkshire health leader who helped shape them.
Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber Chief Executive Richard Stubbs, who sat on the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare, described the use of AI as the key to increasing productivity – and improving patients’ experiences.
Richard said: “We are already seeing the impact of AI in reducing the administrative burden on clinicians, freeing them up to focus more on patients and less on paperwork.
“The technology is already available to analyse blood tests for markers of cancer; to review X-rays and CT scans and find the ones that need urgent attention, faster; to help develop new drugs and to personalise treatments.
“Here in Yorkshire and Humber we’re seeing what this can look like in practice, from the MHRA’s new Digital Hub in Leeds to projects like the Yorkshire Digital Twin, which is helping test AI-powered tools for earlier detection of chronic kidney disease. Getting the regulatory framework right will be critical to scaling this kind of innovation safely, and to making sure it benefits the diverse communities we serve across our region.
“These new recommendations are based on extensive consultation across healthcare, industry and academia and they provide a much-needed way forward to developing a framework of regulations which is safe, fast and trusted – protecting patients, managing risk and enabling responsible innovation.”
What the Commission heard
The Commission’s recommendations have been shaped by evidence, expertise and extensive engagement. This included input from four expert working groups and wider research and engagement with patients and the public, healthcare professionals, healthcare organisations, industry, researchers, regulators and others across the health system.
The evidence showed strong support for the use of AI in healthcare, but that support is conditional rather than automatic. People want to know that AI can be used safely, fairly and transparently, with clear evidence of benefit, meaningful human oversight and accountability. Trust cannot simply be assumed. It must be earned.
The Commission’s response
The Commission’s central conclusion is that the regulation and assurance of AI in healthcare needs to become more proportionate, lifecycle-based and system-wide. Its vision is for a future framework that is Safe, Fast and Trusted: Safe in protecting patients and managing risk; Fast in enabling responsible innovation and timely access to beneficial technologies; and Trusted in giving confidence across the healthcare system.
The Commission’s recommendations are organised around three connected areas of change:
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Proportionate lifecycle regulation
This means having the right safeguards, at the right time, for the right level of risk. Regulatory requirements should reflect what a technology does, the benefits it could bring, the risks it presents and the level of uncertainty around it.
Safe, low-risk tools that support staff, improve services and patient care, should face lighter requirements, so those benefits are not unnecessarily delayed.
However, products that have a greater effect on someone’s health or care, or where there is greater uncertainty, would need stronger safeguards matched to their level of risk.
Oversight must continue throughout the lifecycle: this means ensuring safety from the start but also continuing through deployment, monitoring, updating and ongoing learning from real-world use.
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System-wide responsibility and safe management
This means recognising that keeping AI safe is a shared responsibility. Regulation alone cannot ensure the safe and effective use of AI. Manufacturers, healthcare providers, healthcare professionals, regulators and policymakers all have a role to play.
The future framework should support clearer responsibilities, stronger organisational readiness, appropriate workforce capability and effective governance. No one should be left responsible for something they cannot understand, control or act on.
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Trust, transparency and predictability
This means recognising that trust must be earned. Patients and healthcare professionals need clear and accessible information about how AI is being used, alongside transparency, accountability and meaningful involvement so they can have confidence in the technologies supporting their care.
Developers and manufacturers also need clearer and more predictable pathways through the regulatory system, helping them understand what is expected and giving them greater confidence to bring safe and beneficial technologies into healthcare responsibly.
Read the Commission’s full recommendations