“AI deserves more credit”: health professionals speak out

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Artificial intelligence in healthcare deserves more credit, and will far out-do human capabilities in hospitals and GP surgeries. These are the views from the health professionals themselves, who have had first-hand experience with upcoming AI tech and it’s ability to “transform” a desperate healthcare system. 

Health Tech World decided to take the temperature of some doctors and healthcare professionals, and find out what they think of the acceleration into a new, automated world. 

AI is not the new kid on the block in healthcare by any means. The NHS openly makes robotics part of its long term plan, with everything from robot mammography to chatbot services, working to reduce the backlog of 6.6M patients . 

AI, in fact, is now able tocatch breast cancer more often than doctorsalone – and is thought to overtake human power completely in the next few years.

Ash Higgs is the award-winning MD of MCG Healthcare which provides GPs and locums to GP practices throughout England.

Speaking to Health Tech World, he said: “Personally I think if there is any way we can use technology to alleviate additional pressure on the NHS, then these must be explored.

“People who are often kept in the hospital prior to an operation but can be seen in a virtual ward by using wearables and using a tablet to speak to a nurse is amazing. It means that nurses can attend to a higher number of patients. It is also shown to have a positive effect on patients as they are in a familiar environment. 

“Croydon Health Services NHS Trusts virtual ward have saved 4642 hospital beds over 17 months, reduced hospital readmissions by 70% and managed to see a cost saving of £742 per patient, these are impressive statistics.”

Ash also pointed out that advanced tech solutions in healthcare can help everyone from trauma patients to training medics. 

He added: “Patients suffering from PTSD can enter recreated VR environments that can help them overcome past traumas or even create a virtual calm place they can go to ease their anxiety. This can also be applied to overcoming phobias, aiding patients with depression and can even be useful for rehab patients too.”

“AR and VR make very effective hands-on learning tools especially for doctors studying anatomy, practising surgery, learning new procedures, and identifying physical symptoms. This would also allow healthcare workers to perform complex procedures without needing to worry about making mistakes.”

Dr Vishaal Virani who co-foundedDoctorpreneurs, says that virtual care is “critical” to the long term success and sustainability of health systems. 

He told Health Tech World: “It enables delivery of care at scale, and also ensures patients get the right care at the right time.

“Ultimately this will be seen as desirable by patients. It allows the sickest and most complex patients to access real doctors face to face, whilst reducing hospital stays for the less sick patients. They would prefer to continue their management at home via a hybrid model of AI and real doctor support. 

“This hybrid model, when deployed for the right sub-group of patients, is the best path forward for virtual hospital care.” 

Dr Avi Mehra added that AI has great potential to “transform patient care”, but that we’re not quite there yet. 

He added:  “We are still in the early stages of its application and we need to improve data access, quality and diversity in order to train and validate reliable AI systems and generate better clinical, economic and ethical evidence before we will see its true potential unleashed in healthcare.”

“One major benefit AI can have is to free up time for clinicians and healthcare staff to focus on delivering high quality patient care, by automating time-consuming, routine administrative tasks and processes. 

“This will be critical in helping tackle challenges such as the growing patient backlog and workforce shortages.”

Dr Hana Patel echoes these sentiments, and said that there evidence of AI’s necessity is already visible. 

“We have been using AI in general practice for over 15 years. 

“When I first qualified as a GP, there were vulnerable patients in my area who were the most ‘at risk’ from hospital admissions – which was highlighted to the practice team. 

She added: “Evidence presented by NHS England and hospital trusts shows that AI has helped with speeding up hospital waiting lists by triaging patients and communicating with them. 

“During the covid-19 pandemic, virtual hospital wards have become more commonplace and are now routinely used for managing patients with communicable diseases remotely, such as virtual covid wards. 

“NHS England is leading the way in helping the UK become a leader in AI and healthcare.”