Latest news with #patientdischarge
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
AI platform piloted across the NHS in bid to free up hospital beds
A new artificial intelligence (AI) platform is being piloted across the NHS to free up hospital beds, officials have announced. The technology aims to accelerate patient discharges by automating the completion of necessary documents, potentially saving hours of delays. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the move would allow doctors to focus more on care and less on paperwork, thereby cutting waiting times. 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.'
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Dorset hospital discharges improve, hears wellbeing board
Extended hospital stays for patients medically well enough to be discharged are improving, a county's health and wellbeing board has use of apps and partnership working have seen delayed stays shorten from more than 10 days to seven in some Dorset hospital settings - and from 30 to 20 days for people with more complex needs, it was told.A patient at Blandford Hospital, who had been on the wards for 100 days beyond the point she could medically be discharged, was now back home thanks to the efforts of four different teams, the Dorset Council committee was board was being updated on the progress of a council programme called Future Care. Councillors were told much of the success was down to staff in health, social services and social care who had "embraced change" and made the new methods work to the benefit of patients staying in hospital beds longer than they needed to, freeing the beds for more pressing programmes across the county are costing £9m, mainly paid for by NHS are estimated to deliver £36m in benefits up until 2029/2030, councillors Miller, vice chair of the board, said: "This programme is about making sure that as many as possible who go through our service have a really, really positive experience and it's also an experience that improves their health outcomes."Steve Robinson, the board's chair, said the new way of working was the "way it should be, different agencies coming together for the benefit of the patient".He said it was about "putting aside titles and saying 'what is best for this person?'." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
