A team of experts from Barts Health NHS Trust have used artificial intelligence (AI) to read clinical letters and help prevent patients missing out on key appointments.
St Bartholomew’s Hospital experts used machine learning to analyse thousands of outpatient letters for the congenital heart disease service, in a bid to decipher if the correct course of action had been taken – whether that be for the patient or the clinician.
Actions could include:
- Booking a follow-up appointment
- A referral to another specialist
- Requesting a scan
The tool was taught to identify key phrases within patient letters and check them against electronic health records.
Over the six months where the tool read 1,500 letters, it identified 16 so-called high risk’ cases where action was required to stop delays in care or patient harm.
Shane Cashin, information business partner at St Bartholomew’s, said: "If used correctly, AI has the potential to ease workloads for our admin teams, reduce waits for patients and improve safety.
"Whilst only a small sample, early analysis also suggests some ethnic groups are disproportionally affected by missed follow up appointments, which could indicate a language or some other barrier when it comes to the contents of their letters."
Shane came up with the idea and worked with experts from Queen Mary University of London.
It is the first time AI has been used at Barts Health in this way – it was also deployed within uro-oncology.
The experts behind the innovation have applied to Barts Charity for more funding to expand their pilot.
Image credit: iStock
