AI

What AI pilots are actually working in the NHS?

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Episode 94: How health and care organisations buy AI products 🤖
Answer

The archive doesn't contain detailed case studies of specific NHS AI pilots currently working. What emerges instead is infrastructure: NHSX runs an AI lab [Ep 94] and runs six programmes supporting AI adoption [#130], including an AI for Health and Care award with dedicated funding.

Radiology is the clearest example. Qure.ai deployed AI radiology software in the NHS during COVID, marking what was described as the first NHS deployment of AI radiology software [Ep 90]. But even here, the picture is constrained: digital pathology remains nascent, and existing screening infrastructure (like the UK breast screening programme) isn't built to integrate AI tools, meaning implementation stalls on legacy systems rather than clinical uncertainty [Ep 55].

The 2024 NHS 10 Year Plan commits to making the NHS "the most AI enabled health system in the world" and embedding AI into clinical pathways [#405]. But between ambition and working pilots lies what speakers call the friction of NHS implementation: workforce shortages, competing priorities, and the gap between procurement intent and actual integration [#435]. Contact ailabnhsx.nhs.uk if you're building something; they're actively looking at this. The momentum is real. The number of pilots actually live at scale, though, remains unclear from these conversations.

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