Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has shared plans to expand its pilot of ambient AI to 5,000 patients from a range of different healthcare settings across London, following testing in 100 outpatient appointments.
The TORTUS assistant automates the process of note-taking during patient appointments, using ambient voice technology and generative AI to draft clinical notes and letters, which can then be checked by the clinician before being uploaded to the hospital’s EHR or sent out to patients.
After “detailed and thorough safety checks to ensure that the technology is secure” and early phase testing which saw the AI assistant trailed by clinicians, medical actors, and 100 real patients, GOSH is hoping that TORTUS can help increase face-to-face time during appointments, supporting staff and delivering improved outcomes for patients.
According to the trust, clinicians participating in early testing in simulated clinics found that AI “helped them give their full attention to patients when using the tool, without decreasing the quality of the clinic note or letter”.
Dr Maaike Kusters, a paediatric immunology consultant, talked about the importance of taking accurate notes during appointments, and the challenges with having to balance this with paying attention to patients, stating: “Often this means I am typing rather than looking directly at my patient and their family. Using the AI tool meant I could sit closer to them face-to-face and really focus on what they were sharing with me, without compromising on the quality of documentation.”
Developments around digital at GOSH
At the beginning of this year, GOSH announced that it had become part of a consortium of six leading European children’s hospitals, who will be working together to advance research on children’s health, collaborating on data management to develop new therapies for children and support new technologies such as AI in healthcare for children.
In summer, the trust also shared how AI and deep brain stimulation devices were being utilised by clinical teams, with researchers developing a machine learning tool aiming to predict Parkinson’s disease before onset of symptoms; and a clinical trial team implanting a device to block electrical pathways in order to treat epilepsy.
AI in healthcare
The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology recently published a report examining the UK’s AI assurance market, looking at the current landscape, opportunities for future market growth, and potential government actions required to support this “emerging industry”.
In October, the UK government awarded £12 million in funding for projects utilising innovative technologies such as AI, VR and wearable sensors in supporting people with drug addictions and reducing drug-related deaths.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire shared insight into how the trust is utilising artificial intelligence with the aim of improving patient experience, with focus on a collaborative project designed to reduce the number of missed appointments.
HTN also took a closer look at some of the latest use cases and research around artificial intelligence across the NHS, including in predicting disease development, detecting lung cancer, analysing brain tumours, and more.
And HTN hosted a panel discussion exploring whether the reality of AI will live up to current hype along with examining how bias in healthcare data can be managed, looking at current use cases, the role of reliable data, inclusivity and equitability, and more.
