Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust has outlined its plans around generative AI, ambient voice technology, automation and digital recruitment as part of its latest board meeting.
The trust is launching its strategy to 2031, with headline ambitions to use digital and data routinely in improving decision making, productivity, and care delivery. Colleagues will have the technology and digital tools required to perform their role effectively, and access to the information and data necessary to make informed decisions about the services they are providing, it states.
The trust notes AI and automation will play a role in improving patient and colleague experience, productivity, and sustainability, ensuring the best possible use is being made of available resources, and freeing-up time for care.
Commitments are made to invest in modern digital tools, systems, and infrastructure; using data and insight to reduce inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes; and supporting people in managing their own health by increasing access to tools and digital support, the trust continues. By 2031, it aims to “fundamentally redesign” how work is done across the trust, increasing patient-facing time and allowing colleagues to focus on care, improvement, and prevention over administration.
BDCT also sets out five strategic domains to structure the use of digital, AI, and automation: workforce productivity and capacity; optimisation; digital access and patient engagement; operational flow and performance improvement; connected and coordinated care; and digital resilience and assurance. Key outcome measures will include hours of workforce capacity released through digital and automation, patient digital engagement rates, and a reduction in paper-based and manual processes.
“Digital is not a separate strategy or a standalone programme of work,” BDCT says. “It is one of the key enablers through which we will deliver Better Lives, Together. The challenges facing health and care cannot be addressed through additional effort alone. Growing demand, workforce pressures, financial constraints and rising expectations require us to work differently. Digital, data, AI, and automation will help us create capacity, improve productivity, strengthen decision making and make it easier for people to access care and support.”
For the workforce, tech such as generative AI and AVT, as well as workflow automation and the optimisation of clinical systems, will support reduced admin burden and more time for delivering care, the trust explains. For service users, digital will support easier access and more convenient ways of interacting with services, including through a digital front door centred around patient preferences and personalised digital services that will hep access the right support at the right time.
Work has also begun to develop guidance on recruiting digital professionals and to identify actions to strengthen outcomes, the trust shares, focusing on promoting the purpose and impact of digital roles with the aim of attracting and retaining “high quality digital talent”.
From an operational standpoint, digital is expected to improve visibility around demand, capacity, flow, and outcomes, with real-time data availability, operational dashboards, and advanced analytics supporting productivity and service improvement. Digital will further strengthen the delivery of joined-up care, with the trust noting: “Through improved interoperability, information sharing and connected systems, colleagues and partners will have access to the information they need to deliver safer, more streamlined care. This will help reduce duplication, improve transitions between services and support neighbourhood based models of care.”
Over the next five years, strong digital foundations will be supported through continued investment in cyber security, digital infrastructure, information governance, resilience, and modern clinical systems, BDCT reports. Investment will also be made in a future EPR.
Wider trend: NHS Trust digital transformation
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has progressed its EPR programme, moving to “full mobilisation” following confirmation from NHS England. The trust board reported delivering a full business case to NHS England for its SystmOne EPR, with implementation plans “well underway”. At that time, it shared that six Listening into Action teams had been assembled to direct the design and configuration work required to tailor the system to meet trust needs, and that good progress was being made on staff training and the migration of data from Lorenzo. The development of EPR super users is a priority for Q1 2026/27, and go-live is hoped to take place in 2027, it added.
South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) NHS Foundation Trust has shared insights and upcoming milestones from its digital transformation programme, noting details of work around data, AI, and auto-dispatch. The service sets out a series of priority workstreams for clinical productivity, including auto-allocation of calls (hear & treat), with emergency operations centre roll out in Q1 2026/27; automation of its emergency crew advice line process with go-live expected by the end of Q3 2026/27; and ongoing work to optimise EPR information flows. Automation of clinical audit is currently being scoped, with plans for delivery in Q3 2026/27.
North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) NHS Trust is planning an upcoming procurement for a unified CAD and EPR platform, with a total estimated value of £19.3 million. The trust has issued a market notice ahead of a planned February 2027 tender, indicating requirements for the platform around minimising duplication, improving clinical safety, and ensuring real-time information flow between control room operations and care settings.
