NHS Wales and Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board is to implement IBM’s virtual assistant to support COVID-19 questions from healthcare workers and the public.
CERi, an English and Welsh speaking virtual assistant from IBM, will soon go live to provide information to common COVID-19 questions, and is being provided for free for at least 90 days.
The solution, IBM Watson, provides natural language processing capabilities and AI to understand and respond to common questions.
Rob Thomas, general manager, IBM Data & AI “While helping government agencies and healthcare institutions use AI to get critical information out to their citizens remains a high priority right now, the current environment has made it clear that every business in every industry should find ways to digitally engage with their clients and employees.”
“With today’s news, IBM is taking years of experience inhelping thousands of global businesses and institutions use Natural Language Processing and other advanced AI technologies to better meet the demands of their constituents, and now applying it to the COVID-19 crisis. AI has the power to be your assistant during this uncertain time.”
Common questions the chatbot is programmed to answer include ‘What are symptoms?’, ‘How do I clean my home properly?’ and ‘How do I protect myself?’
NHS Wales will be working with IBM to customise the solution.
The technology is also helping providers around the world including:
- ARKANSAS: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences – In 9 days, deployed a virtual agent so citizens can get their questions answered quickly about testing, symptoms or resources. Information is automatically sent to a mobile COVID-19 triage clinic electronically to help speed response. Average registration time has been reduced by fifty percent for those using the agent.
- CALIFORNIA:City of Lancaster in Los Angeles County – COVID-19 information for citizens on common questions such as symptoms and recommended procedures to follow in case of infection.
- GEORGIA: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – The “COVID-19 Pediatric Assessment Tool” walks parents through a series of questions and results in suggested next steps that a parent should take. Recommendations on next steps are made according to the healthcare system’s established protocols.
- NEW YORK: County of Otsego – COVID-19-related information will be available within the next few days for citizens to help them quickly get their health and non-health related questions answered regarding the pandemic. Otsego County’s COVID-19 virtual agent will be able to answer citizen’s questions like: “How do I apply for unemployment?”
- TEXAS: City of Austin –COVID-19-related information will soon be available for citizens with interactive conversation on where to get testing and other information.
- CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech Ministry of Health – COVID-19 virtual agent called “Anežka” advises citizens about prevention, treatment and other related topics on the coronavirus.
- GREECE: Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance – COVID-19-related information for citizens and interactive conversation on preventive and precautionary measures issued by the Greek Government.
- POLAND: Polish Ministry of Health – COVID-19 information for Polish citizens on common questions such as symptoms and recommended procedures to follow in case of infection.
- SPAIN: Andalusian Government– A virtual agent to help respond to citizen’s queries about COVID-19 is available through the app “Salud Responde” and the Public Agency for Health Emergencies (EPES) website, built also in collaboration with the Andalusian Health Service (SAS).
