NHS App Will Use AI to Triage All Patients by 2028
Artificial intelligence on the NHS app will direct patients in England towards a GP, pharmacy or A&E, reaching 200,000 people within twelve months and every user by April 2028 as part of a £10bn technology programme. Health Secretary James Murray said he was “certain” the technology would “get patients to the right care faster, free our brilliant clinicians from mountains of paperwork, and help drive down waiting times”. A Sussex trial cut GP phone queues by 29%.
Ending the 8am scramble was a manifesto promise, and announcing the rollout now amounts to a caretaker government banking a deliverable two weeks before the keys change hands — the incoming administration inherits both the £10bn envelope and the delivery risk. The professional bodies’ caveats are the usual but real ones: overstated productivity claims, privacy, and the digital exclusion of exactly the patients who use the NHS most. A separate ambient-AI trial giving staff a quarter more patient-facing time hints at where the bigger productivity gains may sit. Watch whether Burnham keeps the technology budget intact through his first spending decisions.