Hospitals in England is using artificial intelligence to reduce wait times in emergency departments this winter.
A&E's forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing trusts to better plan staffing levels and bed capacity. The forecasting algorithm is trained on historical data including weather trends, school holidays, flu and Covid rates to determine how many people are likely to visit A&E.
The government said the technology allowed health workers to “do what they are trained to do instead of being tied down by bureaucratic processes.”
Ian Murray, Minister for Digital Government and Data, said: “The front door National Health Service This is the emergency department. You have no idea how many people will come through the door, although you may have some analytics that Saturday nights may be busier than Tuesday evenings, for example, and winter may be busier than summer, unless you have a heatwave.
“This [the forecasting tool] helps us [predict] how busy their emergency departments will be. If you put it into context and see the seasonal trends and how busy the days are going to be, you can put your resources in the right place.”
Hospitals could bring in more consultants in certain specialties or more nurses in departments expected to be busiest, Murray added.
“Perhaps then you can look at freeing up beds further down the line, maybe looking at how you might need to get more people out of the hospital faster and free up those beds,” he said.
The A&E Forecasting Tool is available to all NHS trusts in England. Around 50 NHS organizations are already using it and Murray says they are “seeing great results”.
“This is about modernizing the NHS, using tools to enable doctors and specialists to do what they are trained to do rather than being tied down by bureaucratic processes, allowing resources to be directed where they need to be directed,” he said.
The tool is part of Keir Starmer's AI Exemplars program. In January, the Prime Minister said artificial intelligence would “bring about incredible change for our country.”
Professor Julian Redhead, national clinical director for NHS England's A&E department, said: “Early and effective planning is key to managing busy periods like winter, and new technologies such as the artificial intelligence tool can make a real difference to how we manage patient care.”
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