Can AI fix the NHS in Wales?

AI has been a massive development in recent years, so Senedd Members are exploring how we can use it to improve the NHS in Wales.

Transcript

00:00Figuring out how to fix the NHS in Wales is no easy feat.

00:05Particularly in waiting times, it's fair to say that improvements are sorely needed.

00:09We've been looking for that silver bullet for years, but the answers might be revealing

00:13themselves with modern technology, and no modern technology has had the same sort of

00:17impact that AI has had in recent years.

00:22Senate members are pressing the Health Minister for answers of how AI can help shape the future

00:26of the NHS in Wales.

00:28Across the world, artificial intelligence is being used to analyse images such as X-rays,

00:33MRI scans and CT scans.

00:35These tools can be used to identify anomalies that can be missed by human radiologists.

00:39AI can be used to detect tumours and other critical conditions improving outcomes by early intervention,

00:45and it's fast.

00:46Remember that we need to look at all ways to increase the efficiency of the service we can

00:52deliver, increase the capacity of the Welsh NHS to meet the needs of the people of Wales,

00:57and to always be pushing at that innovation both to support patients and our workforce to

01:03deliver the very best service that they wish to do.

01:07There is already very, very good examples of the use of AI in some of the diagnostic applications

01:13which the member was referring to in his question.

01:15In stroke, in cancer, in ophthalmology in particular, there's very good evidence in the NHS in Wales

01:22that AI can make a real difference in supporting the work of clinicians.

01:27Ambient voice technologies are one way Jeremy Miles believes AI can help assist NHS staff in

01:33speeding up different processes. It can listen to doctors, help in admin and streamline patient care.

01:38I would also say that there are some ambient voice technologies which can support more broadly

01:49based administrative and clinical activities. We've completed a desktop exercise recently around

01:56some of the potential for safe introduction of some of these AVTs, as they're called, to understand

02:02some of the technical and care-setting factors which we would need to take into account to

02:10be able to expand the use of AI in a way which commands confidence and consent, both from a

02:14patient and a staff point of view.

02:19The health minister says he's aware of the pros and cons of artificial intelligence in the

02:23NHS, and he wants to work with relevant bodies to make sure it works best for everyone.

02:27This is an area where, you know, we're already working with the Workforce Partnership Council,

02:32for example, to understand what we need to do across the NHS to ensure ethical and responsible

02:40use of AI and to make sure, as Mike Hedges was, I think, inferring in his question, that what

02:47this can do is support clinicians, support the wider healthcare workforce in being able to do even

02:55more with the pressures I was, that they commit to the NHS in Wales.