Artificial intelligence will begin triaging patients through the NHS app from next year, as part of a £10bn government investment to modernise the health service's technology. The new tool, announced by NHS England, will ask users a series of questions and direct them to a GP appointment, pharmacy, A&E, community service or self-care advice.
The rollout will start with more than 200,000 patients over the next 12 months, and become available to all app users in England by April 2028, the health service said. An initial trial at Wealden Ridge Medical Partnership in Sussex saw a 29% reduction in the number of people queuing on the phone for an appointment. Dr Ragu Rajan, who works at the practice, said integrating the tool "means our patients can tell us what they need, when they need it, and be directed to the right care first time. It hasn't replaced our judgement – it's given us back the time to use it."
“AI triage tool to be rolled out on NHS app, reaching all users by 2028 as part of £10bn overhaul.”
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said the tool would "help get patients to the best service for their needs first time... so that clinicians can make sure those most in need of a GP appointment can get one sooner." The funding, allocated by the government in 2025, also pays for AI notetaking tools that record conversations between patients and NHS staff to generate real-time transcriptions and clinical summaries. The notetaking technology will start with hospital appointments not requiring an overnight stay at four trusts in and around London – St George's, Epsom and St Helier, Croydon, and Kingston and Richmond. Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust are also expanding their programmes. A trial led by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children across nine NHS sites in London found staff spent almost 25% more of their time interacting with patients when using the technology.
The Royal College of Nursing's chief nursing officer, Prof Lynn Woolsey, said the rollout could mark "an important step in upgrading technology in the NHS" and "ease the administrative burden on nursing staff." But she emphasised that patient safety and confidentiality must be at the "heart of any AI triage system, with a guarantee that a health professional will be the one making decisions at key points in that process." Pritesh Mistry, fellow at the King's Fund think-tank, said the announcement "could help turbo-charge improvements."
As the NHS pours billions into digital transformation, there are parallel calls for a different kind of reform: devolution of power to local communities. Dr Simon Opher, a GP and MP for Stroud, said Andy Burnham's recent vision for a "devolution revolution" could reshape healthcare. Writing in the New Statesman, Opher described a place-based NHS he led in Stroud, where a board of GPs, district nurses, hospital consultants, social care workers, and even food producers and housing specialists all sat at the same table. "What we achieved was remarkable," he wrote, pointing to a network of nine community hubs in deprived areas, working with foodbanks and mental health support workers. He argued that unified, devolved budgets are needed, because "the people delivering care are split across multiple employers" and "true integration is almost impossible" under the current system. Opher added that when mental health professionals work directly out of GP surgeries, "productivity can triple."