A specialist artificial intelligence team, part of the NHS Transformation Directorate, has opened a call for applications to join a proof of concept programme.
The NHS AI Lab Skunkworks team are seeking to develop a new round of projects where artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be applied to solve problems in health and care. The team is asking for health and care professionals to submit their problems to then explore if an AI solution can be developed to address the challenges.
In a blog post the team is calling for “health and care colleagues to bring us their problems, such as issues regarding patient backlogs, to see if there is potential for an AI solution,” and that they “also want to see if AI technologies can help colleagues find easier ways to deliver national programmes and against national priorities too.”
Successful applications will be supported by the Skunkworks team through a 12 week proof of concept project to explore, experiment and find opportunities for the application of artificial intelligence tools.
Areas of focus can cover clinical, diagnostic to operational areas. The call for applications is to understand the problem and what is needed to solve it, rather than how the application works.
A previous project in the programme explored whether an artificial intelligence tool or approach can be developed to automatically generate student nurse placement schedules that adhere to a variety of stakeholder needs and constraints, whilst providing a more diverse range of placements for the students. The project involved Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, in conjunction with North West London CCGs, to develop an AI-driven solution to the problem of placing students.
The deadline to apply is 31 January 2023. To find out more please visit the NHS Transformation Directorate website here.
