Health Education England (HEE) have published a roadmap of AI-driven technologies and interactive dashboard, exploring the use and impact of AI in the NHS. The report examines the effects on workforce groups, clinical pathways, point of care, and their respective transitioning requirements.

The report and its respective dashboard allow the reader to understand the landscape of AI and data-driven technologies that currently exist within the healthcare system, the taxonomies they sit within, their spread and adoption, and their potential impact on the workforce. Case studies within the report provide further understanding on the impact of two AI technologies that are more mature in practice and use. Overall, the report aims to help steer ongoing AI discussions across the system and explore training and workforce needs for all healthcare professionals.

Expanding on the legacy of the Topol review, the report provides a framework on how to identify and classify AI technologies. The current report is a culmination of significant work and cross-organisation collaboration, providing valuable insight for leaders in AI policy, education, regulation, innovation and digital transformation, and workforce strategy.

HEE commissioned Unity Insights to develop a roadmap of AI-driven technologies which were becoming close, or were ready for, market; including when and where they would likely have impact. The Unity Insights team examined the effects on workforce groups, clinical pathways, point of care, and their respective transitioning requirements. The project ran between March and October 2021, involving various stakeholders ranging from Health Education England, NICE, NHS AI Lab and the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC).

Commenting on the report, Hatim Abdulhussein, Clinical Lead for DART-Ed at HEE, said:

“The AI Roadmap is an invaluable asset in helping to understand the AI and data driven landscape in healthcare, and the implications this will have on our staff and learners. It is important we achieve transformation through emerging technology, helping scalability to improve patient care throughout the country, and can understand impact on the system, pathways, and users. We need to ensure the workforce is ready to support this aim and the insights from this roadmap will focus our efforts on education and training to achieve this.”

“This dashboard is a useful step towards measuring the impact of AI technologies to the NHS”, said Leanne Summers, Head of Ai Strategy at the NHS AI Lab. “The blend of sources of information, including clinician experience, provides meaningful insights. We hope to build on this work in the future strategy for AI in health and care including strengthening data from social care and ensuring that our governance and commercial frameworks from across the digital health ecosystem, such as NICE’s Evidence Standards Framework, and adoption data from AAC backed technologies, are brought to life.”

Read the roadmap and interactive dashboard here.