An artificial intelligence tool is to be rolled out across 30 GP practices in the South West to help identify vulnerable patients at risk of emergency admission.
The roll-out follows a pilot project that saw integrated teams using the AI tool to provide proactive care in this cohort and as such reduce attendance in A&E departments by a reported 60 percent.
The Brave AI system uses an algorithm to identify patterns in registered patients’ records, assessing their risk of unplanned hospital admissions within the next year; care teams can then use this information to reach those in need, offering personalised support such as remote health monitoring, to prevent admissions from occurring.
NHS England shared how, as part of the AI’s primary care pilot, teams from NHS Somerset and North Sedgemoor PCN examined data from more than 500 care home residents across 35 care homes, tracking their health and care over a period of 18 months. Along with the reduction in ED attendance, the pilot resulted in a reduction in falls of 35 percent and a reduction in ambulance call-outs by 8.7 percent among this cohort.
Dr Kheelna Bavalia, medical director, NHS England South West, said: “No one likes going to hospital unexpectedly so it’s much better for everyone if we can make good plans in advance and respond quickly to changes, before emergencies happen. Working together as a ‘team of teams’ of health and care professionals is key to helping us support people to stay well at home for longer and ensuring our system is as efficient and effective as possible, particularly in winter when demand is high. It will allow our healthcare professionals to start conversations early so that people can be directly involved in discussions about their care and help healthcare professionals understand what’s important to them.”
Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS national director for transformation, added: “These measures not only keep some of the most vulnerable patients out of hospital but encourage conversations with patients who might not otherwise contact their GP, spotting health conditions that might otherwise go unnoticed and boosting our ability to intervene early when conditions are easier to treat.”
Also on AI, NHS Scotland’s chief data officer Albert King has shared insights into Scotland’s ambitions and potential for digital and data across health and care, highlighting Scotland’s “pioneering approach to data and AI in healthcare”, as well as its partnerships with global consultancies and technology companies in demonstrating its “progressive and advanced” status on the global health landscape.
Elsewhere, Sanius Health has announced a deal which will see its data, research and personalised health patient AI platform leveraged by primary care provider Modality Partnership through a 10-year collaboration.
