Health Education and Improvement Wales has launched a free foundational course in AI for healthcare professionals, with plans to introduce a chatbot interface to the online course.
Following an AI education and skills landscape review earlier this year, the findings highlighted a gap in AI education, said to be insufficient to meet the needs of the healthcare system. The review noted the need for AI education, particularly understanding ethical, safe and effective use of AI, and that professionals are keen to learn about AI but lack structured programmes.
The foundations in AI course has been live since April 2025, with more than 600 colleagues having used the resource. It allows staff to learn the basics of AI, explore real-world examples of it in use and understand risks and ethics around safe usage, with the aim to “give every member of the workforce a safe place to experience AI for themselves”.
Now, the organisation is looking to introduce a new chatbot mentor called HALI, as part of the course offering. According to HEIW, HALI facilitates personalised conversation between the chatbot and staff members, allowing them to learn how AI can be used to help in situations and areas specific to their individual responsibilities.
Having “just completed internal user-acceptance testing”, plans are in place to roll out the chatbot “in the coming weeks”, as part of HEIW’s campaign on ‘Using AI to Learn AI’, which forms part of their wider digital strategy to “build a workforce that is digitally ready, resilient and innovative”.
Digital skills within the workforce: the wider trend
For a recent HTN Now panel discussion we welcomed experts from across health and care to discuss their most recent go-live projects, exploring post go-live best practices, key learnings and challenges when it comes to engaging the workforce and measuring adoption. On strategies for engaging the workforce, our panel discussed the benefits of face-to-face workshops and digital champions, with Stacey Spence, EPR programme manager at Medway NHS FT, highlighting the accessibility of workshops and how they were “open to all staff regardless of whether they were actively involved in patient records or patient care,” allowing them to “see the system and talk about the system design.”
The Scottish government recently opened an opportunity to develop a national online digital maturity assessment tool that will allow healthcare organisations within the country to evaluate their use of digital technologies. With a focus on “continuous improvement, workforce development, and strategic alignment”, the tool should have the ability to assess leadership, data use, infrastructure, innovation, staff confidence, digital skills and support readiness for change.
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust launched a radiography app to provide healthcare students and apprentices with access to a range of clinical learning resources through their mobile phones. Developed entirely in-house by Benjamin Hubbard, practice educator for therapeutic radiography and Simon Jassel, advanced practitioner in imaging and IT, the app provides learners with access to key documents, videos, presentations, workbooks and quizzes designed to “support the development of clinical skills”.
