The NHS Tech Revolution Isn't All Hype

An excess of techno-optimism only encourages distrust, and Britain’s National Health Service has had a bumper dose recently. Artificial intelligence, genomics, robotic-assisted surgery and wearables will all help to create “transformational change” in an NHS facing the worst crisis in its history, a 10-year government plan released in July promised. Skepticism is the healthy immune response to such boosterism, but perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss. It’s clear that something is going right.

NHS productivity increased by 2.7% in the fiscal year ended in April, far exceeding the government’s 2% target, data showed last month. Technology wasn’t the only factor, but it contributed. Almost 12 million fewer paper letters were sent between hospitals from July 2024 to April this year as more patients accessed correspondence through the NHS app, the government said. A trial in nine locations of AI technology that automates the transcription of consultation notes increased the number of patients seen in accident and emergency, or A&E, departments by 13% and cut the time spent on completing documents by more than half.