- Pioneering AI technology will be developed to scan NHS systems to flag safety issues in real time and trigger crucial inspections earlier
- Patients to benefit from safer treatment thanks to faster identification of problems in care and greater quality assurance of data
- Initiative is part of government’s Plan for Change to shift NHS services from analogue to digital under the 10 Year Health Plan
Patients will receive better care thanks to a world-first AI early warning system being developed to automatically identify safety concerns across the NHS, helping stop failures before they escalate.
It follows a pledge by the Health and Social Care Secretary to overhaul health and care regulation, root out poor performance and guarantee patients safe, quality care.
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.
The forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan will usher in a new era of transparency, a rigorous focus on high-quality care for all, and a renewed focus on patient and staff voice. This major intervention to boost patient safety will be on behalf of everyone whose healthcare has caused them unnecessary suffering – whether in scandals, or because they have received ineffective care from the NHS more broadly.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:
While most treatments in the NHS are safe, even a single lapse that puts a patient at risk is one too many. Behind every safety breach is a person – a life altered, a family devastated, sometimes by heart-breaking loss.
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.
By helping transform patient care, this initiative forms a key part of the government’s Plan for Change. It 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.
This 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.
Professor Meghana Pandit, Co-National Medical Director – Secondary Care, said:
The NHS in England will be the first country in the world to trial an AI-enabled warning system to flag patient safety issues which will rapidly analyse routine hospital data and reports submitted by healthcare staff from community settings.
The move will turbo-charge the speed and efficiency with which we identify patient safety concerns and enable us to respond rapidly to improve patient care.
The adoption of the AI warning system is underpinned by the government’s transformation of the NHS from analogue to digital – one of the three key shifts outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan.
CQC’s Chief Executive Sir Julian Hartley said:
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.
