Pioneering AI technology is to be developed to improve patient safety within the NHS. The tech will scan NHS systems to flag safety issues in real time, trigger crucial inspections earlier and help to stop failures before they escalate.
There have been growing concerns about safety in the NHS in recent years after a spate of scandals including in mental health and maternity services.
The new safety warning system, being developed as part of the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, will rapidly analyse healthcare data and ring the alarm bell on emerging safety issues.
Work on rolling out the system is already underway. A new Maternity Outcomes Signal System will launch across NHS Trusts from November, using near real-time data to flag higher than expected rates of stillbirth, neonatal death and brain injury. When fully implemented, it could analyse hospital databases to identify patterns of abuse, serious injuries, deaths, or other incidents that can slip through the net, cause harm and stop hospitals from running safely.
Where concerns are raised, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will deploy specialist inspection teams as soon as possible to investigate and take swift action.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting says: “Patient safety and power are at the heart of our 10 Year Health Plan. By embracing AI and introducing world-first early warning systems, we’ll spot dangerous signs sooner and launch rapid inspections before harm occurs.
“This technology will save lives – catching unsafe care before it becomes a tragedy. It’s a vital part of our commitment to move the NHS from analogue to digital, delivering better, safer care for everyone.”
The new system is built on the NHS Federated Data Platform, which allows healthcare staff to securely access the information they need in one place. That means less paperwork and manual inspections for staff, and more time caring for patients.
Stronger focus on patient safety promised
This announcement follows the government’s commitment last week to a rapid national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services to provide truth and accountability for impacted families and drive urgent improvements to care and safety.
CQC’s Chief Executive Sir Julian Hartley says: “We will develop a stronger focus on all dimensions of quality, using data which we and partners hold on inequalities in access, experience and outcomes to spot and act on risk earlier.
“We are already developing our new clearer, simpler, assessment approach, and in the future our experienced teams of inspectors, led by our newly appointed Chief Inspectors, will be able to conduct more inspections and share feedback on the findings more quickly – so that providers can make faster improvements and the public have timely information about care.”
