The NHS cannot embrace AI until its core IT systems are scratched

The NHS will struggle to embrace technological advances in areas such as AI because its core systems are too slow and “disastrously user-unfriendly”, according to a leading UK scientist.

Professor Sir Martin Landre, co-founder of the UK Recovery trial, which saved thousands of lives during the Covid pandemic, said it was “hugely disappointing” that healthcare was lagging behind other industries such as banking and entertainment. Data and Technology.

The use of technology in healthcare was an important part of Ara Darcy’s review of the NHS last week and will form the basis of Labour’s 10-year reform plans. Lord Darcy said the NHS was far less productive than it could be, and part of the solution would be a “lean towards technology” by investing in IT systems, particularly in community services rather than acute hospitals.

“Lord Darzi rightly points out the opportunities for increasing productivity and quality of care,” Landray said last week. “But headline-grabbing technologies like AI, patient portals and digital support systems require reliable, secure and well-connected data. [and the basic systems to store and manage it].”

He added: “Currently, the basics of desktop clinical and office systems are slow, unreliable and disastrously un-user-friendly, adding cost, time and frustration. Meanwhile data exists in silos – hospital by hospital, GP surgery by GP surgery, mental health or community care where little if any is available centrally.

“For years, there has been talk of the opportunities for technology and the richness of the underlying data – but as a practicing NHS clinician and researcher it is deeply disappointing to see how far the NHS lags behind areas such as private banking. commercial, and entertainment industries.

In an interview with The Times Darzi pointed out on Saturday that although 80% of people in England are registered, only 1% of GP appointments are managed through the NHS app.

“If a bank has 80% of its customers on its app, it won’t be happy if only 1% of them can access their checking account,” he said.

The NHS has been trying to find ways to integrate data and is creating a federated data platform, a seven-year, £330m project that has faced opposition since the contract was awarded to Palantir. Closely with the CIA.

Darcy said in his report that some parts of healthcare are making good use of the technology, with 56% of NHS trusts already using AI tools to perform X-rays and other scans.

“From discovering new treatments to new diagnostics and biomarkers to automating routine processes, there are many ways healthcare can see extraordinary change,” he wrote.

Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said some NHS organizations were already offering “very sophisticated treatment” to patients.

“But not all healthcare organizations are at the same level of digital maturity, with some lagging behind due to an urgent need for investment and support,” she said, adding that a technology revolution “will not come cheap.” “Some of this replaces outdated equipment, with NHS staff having to wait longer to boot or load computers with records,” Mackay said. “But digital infrastructure is important and the lack of focus is on the skills and capacity to use and manage technology. The latest digital and technological innovations will benefit patients and increase productivity only if staff are properly trained and trusted to use them.