Latest news with #ChelseaAndWestminster
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
AI to help slash NHS hospital discharge delays, officials say
Technology is being piloted to help free up NHS hospital beds which are occupied by people fit to be sent home, officials have announced. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help complete the documents needed to discharge patients, potentially saving hours of delays. The move will allow doctors to spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on care, cutting waiting times in the process, according to Health Secretary Wes Streeting. The technology, which is being piloted at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, extracts information from medical records, including diagnoses and test results. This helps medics to draft discharge summaries, which have to be completed before a person is sent home from hospital. The document is then reviewed by healthcare professionals responsible for the patient and used to send them home or refer them to other services. The tool will be hosted on the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), a shared software system aiming to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients The current manual system can sometimes leave patients waiting for hours to be discharged, as doctors may be too busy to fill in forms, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Mr Streeting said: 'This potentially transformational discharge tool is a prime example of how we're shifting from analogue to digital as part of our 10-year health plan. 'We're using cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future and tackle the hospital backlogs that have left too many people waiting too long. 'Doctors will spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, getting people home to their families faster and freeing up beds for those who need them most.' The AI tool for discharge summaries is one of a number of projects to be backed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. In January, he said AI will be used to 'turn around' the economy and public services. Elsewhere, the Government has announced that technology shown to halve the time probation officers spend organising notes will be given to all 12,000 probation officers later this year. The system helps to transcribe and take notes from meetings that officers have with offenders after they leave prison. Speaking on a visit to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'This is exactly the kind of change we need, AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services. 'This Government inherited a public sector decimated by years of underinvestment and is crying out for reform. 'These AI exemplars show the best ways in which we're using tech to build a smarter, more efficient state. 'When we get this right across government, we're talking about unlocking £45 billion in productivity gains, delivering our plan for change and investing in growth, not bureaucracy.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
AI to help slash NHS hospital discharge delays, officials say
Technology is being piloted to help free up NHS hospital beds which are occupied by people fit to be sent home, officials have announced. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help complete the documents needed to discharge patients, potentially saving hours of delays. The move will allow doctors to spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on care, cutting waiting times in the process, according to Health Secretary Wes Streeting. The technology, which is being piloted at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, extracts information from medical records, including diagnoses and test results. This helps medics to draft discharge summaries, which have to be completed before a person is sent home from hospital. The document is then reviewed by healthcare professionals responsible for the patient and used to send them home or refer them to other services. The tool will be hosted on the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), a shared software system aiming to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients The current manual system can sometimes leave patients waiting for hours to be discharged, as doctors may be too busy to fill in forms, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Mr Streeting said: 'This potentially transformational discharge tool is a prime example of how we're shifting from analogue to digital as part of our 10-year health plan. 'We're using cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future and tackle the hospital backlogs that have left too many people waiting too long. 'Doctors will spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, getting people home to their families faster and freeing up beds for those who need them most.' The AI tool for discharge summaries is one of a number of projects to be backed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. In January, he said AI will be used to 'turn around' the economy and public services. Elsewhere, the Government has announced that technology shown to halve the time probation officers spend organising notes will be given to all 12,000 probation officers later this year. The system helps to transcribe and take notes from meetings that officers have with offenders after they leave prison. Speaking on a visit to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'This is exactly the kind of change we need, AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services. 'This Government inherited a public sector decimated by years of underinvestment and is crying out for reform. 'These AI exemplars show the best ways in which we're using tech to build a smarter, more efficient state. 'When we get this right across government, we're talking about unlocking £45 billion in productivity gains, delivering our plan for change and investing in growth, not bureaucracy.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
AI tool that speeds up patient discharges trialled by NHS
An artificial intelligence tool designed to speed up the discharge of patients is being trialled at a hospital trust in London. The platform completes documents needed to send fit patients home, potentially saving hours of delays and freeing up beds. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said the tech will enable doctors to spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on care, cutting waiting times in the process. The platform, which is being piloted at Chelsea and Westminster NHS trust, extracts information from medical records, including diagnoses and test results. This helps medics to draft discharge summaries, which have to be completed before a person is sent home from hospital. The document is then reviewed by healthcare professionals responsible for the patient and used to send them home or refer them to other services. The manual system can sometimes leave patients waiting for hours to be discharged, as doctors may be too busy to fill in forms, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said. Streeting said: 'This potentially transformational discharge tool is a prime example of how we're shifting from analogue to digital as part of our 10-year health plan. 'We're using cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future and tackle the hospital backlogs that have left too many people waiting too long. 'Doctors will spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, getting people home to their families faster and freeing up beds for those who need them most.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The tool will be hosted on the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), a software system aiming to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients. In January, Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said AI will be used to 'turn around' the economy and public services. Elsewhere, the government has announced that technology shown to halve the time probation officers spend organising notes will be launched later this year. The system helps to transcribe and take notes in meetings that probation officers have with offenders after they leave prison. AI is also being trialled across the NHS. The technology will analyse hospital databases and catch potential safety scandals early, providing an early warning system which could detect patterns or trends and trigger urgent inspections. The first NHS AI-run physiotherapy clinic halved the waiting list for back pain and musculoskeletal services. More than 2,500 patients living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were able to access Flok Health, a physiotherapy app, over a 12-week period starting in February. And the NHS in England is trialling a 'superhuman' AI tool that predicts a patient's risk of disease and dying early. Speaking on a visit to Chelsea and Westminster hospital, the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, said: 'This is exactly the kind of change we need, AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services. 'This government inherited a public sector decimated by years of underinvestment and is crying out for reform. 'These AI exemplars show the best ways in which we're using tech to build a smarter, more efficient state. 'When we get this right across government, we're talking about unlocking £45bn in productivity gains, delivering our plan for change and investing in growth, not bureaucracy.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
AI to help slash NHS hospital discharge delays, officials say
Technology is being piloted to help free up NHS hospital beds which are occupied by people fit to be sent home, officials have announced. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help complete the documents needed to discharge patients, potentially saving hours of delays. The move will allow doctors to spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on care, cutting waiting times in the process, according to Health Secretary Wes Streeting. The technology, which is being piloted at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, extracts information from medical records, including diagnoses and test results. This helps medics to draft discharge summaries, which have to be completed before a person is sent home from hospital. The document is then reviewed by healthcare professionals responsible for the patient and used to send them home or refer them to other services. The tool will be hosted on the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), a shared software system aiming to make it easier for health and care organisations to work together and provide better services to patients The current manual system can sometimes leave patients waiting for hours to be discharged, as doctors may be too busy to fill in forms, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Mr Streeting said: 'This potentially transformational discharge tool is a prime example of how we're shifting from analogue to digital as part of our 10-year health plan. 'We're using cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future and tackle the hospital backlogs that have left too many people waiting too long. 'Doctors will spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, getting people home to their families faster and freeing up beds for those who need them most.' The AI tool for discharge summaries is one of a number of projects to be backed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. In January, he said AI will be used to 'turn around' the economy and public services. Elsewhere, the Government has announced that technology shown to halve the time probation officers spend organising notes will be given to all 12,000 probation officers later this year. The system helps to transcribe and take notes from meetings that officers have with offenders after they leave prison. Speaking on a visit to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'This is exactly the kind of change we need, AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services. 'This Government inherited a public sector decimated by years of underinvestment and is crying out for reform. 'These AI exemplars show the best ways in which we're using tech to build a smarter, more efficient state. 'When we get this right across government, we're talking about unlocking £45 billion in productivity gains, delivering our plan for change and investing in growth, not bureaucracy.'
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- The Guardian
The case of Nicola Packer tells us this: Britain is shamed by its abortion laws – and must change them
As Nicola Packer lay down in shock having just delivered a foetus at home, she had no idea that her life was about to be torn apart. She had suffered a rare complication in her abortion treatment, but what followed would be far more traumatic and unexpected. Every agency she needed turned against her, treating her not as a victim but as a criminal. Compassion was replaced by cruelty. NHS staff come to work because they want to care, and Packer did find most staff at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London 'amazing'. What she didn't know is that after the matter was passed up the chain of seniority, the police were alerted. Charing Cross police station took the call seriously: it dispatched uniformed officers who promptly arrested Packer, guarded her overnight as she recovered from surgery, then kept her in police cells for another two days. Over the next four years, the police pursued the case with notable zeal, examining multiple witness statements, undertaking detailed analysis of Packer's confiscated electronic devices and work computer, organising detailed forensics tests for more than 200 drugs, and commissioning a postmortem on the foetus that involved several specialists; multiple tissue samples and a number of organs were retained. Had it not been a time of Covid-19 lockdown and had Packer had a scan, it seems reasonably likely that this would have shown a pregnancy of less than 24 weeks, meaning she could have had a legal, uneventful abortion. It is a mystery why the police and Crown Prosecution Service felt that pursuing her for nearly five years was in the public interest, especially after the court of appeal stated that even those found guilty should be treated with 'compassion not punishment'. The problem is not with callous organisations or individuals, it is that our laws directed and encouraged those actions. It is perhaps not surprising that the law promotes persecution over compassion. Its origin can be traced back to 1623, an era when women were still tried for witchcraft and more than 100 years before the last woman was burned alive at the stake. In the past few months, other women have been targeted under this ancient law after a suspected abortion – one for buying pills to induce an illegal abortion, which she denied were used and were never proved to have been used. Packer's trial highlighted a vindictive and brutal process which weaponised victim-shaming. A system that forces teenagers and women to reveal their most intimate details and then relive their worst trauma in the full glare of the court – in Packer's case, Isleworth crown court in west London – guarantees that their humiliation and shaming will be very public. Perhaps, for many people that's the whole point? In some ways, she has been less unfortunate than others, including some who were investigated after suffering a natural miscarriage or premature labour. She didn't have her children removed, she has not had to install panic alarms after receiving death threats, she did not lose her job or home, she has not been sent straight to prison. She had people who sought to help and advise her – I was one of them. In January, recognising the harm that the law is causing, more than 30 organisations, including six medical royal colleges, called on parliament to act urgently to protect women's reproductive rights, warning that 'women and girls are facing traumatic and prolonged criminal investigations following pregnancy loss and abortion in numbers never seen before'. Tonia Antoniazzi, the Labour MP for Gower, is leading a cross-party group to champion the urgent need for reform. They hope to finally remove the threat of prosecution against women who act in relation to their own pregnancy. Change is urgently needed. Two months ago, Antoniazzi told the Commons: 'The women caught up in this law are highly vulnerable and often desperate, yet they are subject to the same laws that also apply to violent partners who use physical abuse, coercion or poisoning to end a pregnancy without consent.' She reminded her fellow MPs that Westminster actually voted to repeal the laws criminalising women in Northern Ireland in 2019, but still they pertain to England and Wales. 'There should be parity in the law across the UK so that my constituents have the same rights as my colleagues' constituents in Northern Ireland,' she said. It may be too late for Nicola Packer and others, but the law must change so that women and girls in Great Britain can indeed expect the same rights as in Northern Ireland, Ireland, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand. This cruelty must be highlighted and it must be stopped. We can but hope that Nicola Packer's ordeal brings that day closer. Jonathan Lord is an NHS consultant gynaecologist and co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists abortion taskforce Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
