The Heart and Lung Centre at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) has received funding for the development of a national AI training programme.
The heart support group let by the cardiac rehabilitation team at UHNM secured the funding from the British Heart Foundation, with the aim to help equip healthcare scientists with the “knowledge and skills needed to be able to use AI when caring for patients”.
Work is to be carried out throughout 2025, with one of the main scientists benefiting from this investment being cardiac clinical scientists at UHNM, Sadie Bennett. She plans on working with patients to look at the role AI plays within echocardiology and shape future training.
Claire Peacock, clinical exercise physiologist at UHNM commented on the impact of receiving this funding: “Both the cardiac rehabilitation team and heart support group are so pleased to have been able to help Sadie with her upcoming research project. Working in collaboration with our patients and listening to their concerns and thoughts, it has opened new avenues to be explored. This in turn has led to further multi agency working with the British Society of Echocardiography and the British Heart Foundation in the development of a national training programme for echocardiographers.”
Investing in AI technology across healthcare
NHS Shared Business Services published a framework agreement intended to bring together the “wealth of experience” produced from current AI offerings to help “take the NHS above the foothills of digital transformation”. The framework will cover six lots: radiology and diagnostic imaging; pathological diagnosis and early detection; predictive analytics; research and development; operational efficiency; and specialist support.
Earlier this month, the UK Government published its AI Opportunities Action Plan, accepting recommendations for expanding computing capacity, establishing AI growth zones and unlocking data assets. Some of the 50 recommendations include the development of a long-term plan for the UK’s AI infrastructure backed by a 10-year investment.
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