AI in healthcare: What is next for the UK and EU?

The UK and the EU should ‘work as one’ to further the deployment of AI in healthcare, writes Dr Layla McCay, director of international relations at the NHS Confederation. My colleagues at NHSX are starting to uncover the significant opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for keeping people healthy, improving care and saving lives. In the field of diagnostics alone, we are seeing capabilities develop in areas such as rapid image recognition, symptom checking and risk stratification. AI could help, for example, to personalise health screening and treatments for cancer, eye disease and a range of other conditions. Furthermore, it’s not just patients who can benefit, but also clinicians, enabling them to make the best use of their expertise, informing their decisions and saving time.

The UK is not alone, Europe is also looking closely at how this fast-developing area can change people’s lives, particularly in the field of healthcare.