30.01.20
Matt Hancock announces £140m competition for AI in the NHS
In a keynote speech at the Healthtech Alliance, (Jan 28) Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, announced a £140m Artificial Intelligence (AI) competition to speed up testing and delivery of potential NHS tools.
In the opening few lines of the speech, he goes into detail about how important adopting technology in health care is and why he believes that it is vital for the NHS to move into the digital era.
“Today I want to set out the future for technology in the NHS and why the techno-pessimists are wrong.
Because for any organisation to be the best it possibly can be, rejecting the best possible technology is a mistake.”
Listing examples from endless paperwork to old systems resulting in wasted blood samples, Hancock highlights why in order to retain staff and see a thriving healthcare, embracing technology must be a priority.
Plans for their AI lab, launched in Aug 2019, were highlighted, including a ‘skunkworks unit’ to build and quickly test cutting-edge prototypes.
And the next phase of the AI Lab will see £140m of government funding support the AI Award competition over the next three years, to boost potential of the most promising tools.
The competition will cover all stages of the product cycle, to proof of concept to real-world testing to initial adoption in the NHS.
The NHS AI Lab, which came from a £250m investment from government, was hailed a “crucial tool” in NHSX’s armoury in giving NHS clinicians and managers the world’s best technology, to “bring the NHS into the 21st century.”
Examples of AI use currently being trialled were set out in the speech, including using AI to read mammograms, predict and prevent the risk of missed appointments and AI-assisted pathways for same-day chest X-ray triage.
Tackling the issue of scalability, Hancock said
“too many good ideas in the NHS never make it past the pilot stage.
“We need a culture that rewards and incentivises adoption as well as invention.”