If you’ve ever spent your morning redialling your doctor’s surgery only to be told every slot is gone, the NHS has a message for you: help may be on the way.
Health chiefs have announced plans to roll out a new artificial intelligence tool through the NHS App that promises to end the dreaded “8am rush” for appointments, as part of a £10 billion technology investment stretching over the next three years.
The tool works like a smart digital receptionist. Rather than everyone jamming the phone lines at once hoping to be first in the queue, patients will be able to describe their symptoms through the app, which then asks follow-up questions tailored to their answers before directing them to the right place, whether that’s a same-day GP appointment, a local pharmacy, A&E, or simply advice on treating a minor ailment at home.
It’s already been tested in the real world. A trial at Wealden Ridge Medical Partnership, a rural practice in Sussex covering 23,000 patients across four sites, cut phone queues by nearly a third.
Dr Ragu Rajan, who helped run the trial, said the technology hasn’t taken the human element out of care, but given it room to breathe.
“Integrating AI triage directly into the NHS App means our patients can tell us what they need, when they need it, and be directed to the right care first time,” he said. “It hasn’t replaced our judgement, it’s given us back the time to use it.”
For anyone worried about being forced onto an app, there’s reassurance: picking up the phone the old-fashioned way will still be an option.
More than 200,000 patients are expected to have access to the new triage tool within the next year, with plans to roll it out across the whole of England by April 2028.
Doctors freed from the paperwork mountain
It isn’t just patients who stand to benefit. A separate rollout of AI note taking technology is aiming to give doctors and nurses something many say they’ve been crying out for: more time with patients, and less time typing up notes afterwards.
The tools listen in on consultations, with patients’ knowledge, and automatically generate transcripts and clinical summaries. Early results suggest the impact could be significant. A study led by Great Ormond Street Hospital found the technology freed up almost a quarter more of clinicians’ time for patient care, and researchers believe that if scaled up across more than 11,000 A&E clinicians nationally, it could create space for over 9,000 extra emergency consultations every single day.
At St George’s Hospital in Tooting, one trial found the tool saved emergency department staff an average of 47 minutes per shift, enough time to see one more patient.
Dr Ahmed Mahdi, a consultant in emergency medicine at the hospital, said the change has been felt on the ground.
“When you’re caring for patients in a fast-paced environment, every second really does count, and this technology can make a real difference by cutting down the time we spend on documentation and allowing us to focus on what matters most,” he said.
Thousands of NHS staff across South London are next in line, with the technology being introduced across four trusts: St George’s, Epsom and St Helier, Croydon, and Kingston and Richmond. Meanwhile, Alder Hey Children’s and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trusts are expanding their own pilots to cover more than 3,000 clinicians between them.
Mark Cubbon, Chief Executive of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, struck a note of caution alongside the enthusiasm, stressing that the rollout needs to be handled carefully.
“What matters most is introducing the tools responsibly, with the right safeguards in place, and with clinicians and teams closely involved in how they are used,” he said.
What else is changing?
The technology drive doesn’t stop there. Patients will also be able to access remote consultations with specialists through a new virtual service called NHS Online, request follow-up appointments directly through the app, and use NHS-approved digital tools to manage recovery from common heart and lung conditions.
Behind the scenes, the NHS is also building a “Single Patient Record” so that specialists anywhere in the country can see a patient’s full medical history at a glance, alongside new cybersecurity measures to keep that data safe.
And more than 500,000 NHS staff nationwide are being given access to Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant, after a trial reportedly cut two days a month off staff admin time.
Officials say the investment should deliver around half of the commitments in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, generating an estimated £41 billion in benefits over the next decade.
For many patients tired of early morning phone queues and doctors buried under paperwork, the changes can’t come soon enough, though as with any major NHS shake up, the real test will be whether the promises translate into shorter waits and better care on the ground.
What do you think? Is AI the way forward for the NHS, or do you still prefer speaking to a real receptionist and getting a familiar voice on the other end of the phone? Leave your comments below, or email [email protected]. We’ll be following this story as it develops.
