Artificial intelligence (AI) has experienced a post-pandemic boom. But what does this mean for future use in healthcare? Will we talk to robotic doctors and nurses in the coming years? How will artificial intelligence fit into the future of healthcare?

The use of AI in healthcare is even more important. While this is not a new phenomenon, it is one of many health trends accelerated by pandemics.

In response to this acceleration, Health Education England (HEE) has published the UK's first National Health Service (NHS) artificial intelligence use map. It was found that a large-scale deployment of 56 AI technologies is planned for next year, of which 77% will be used in secondary care.

Digital change is also an important target area in the NHS's long-term plan, where artificial intelligence will act as a factor for change. This will include greater use of technologies such as chatbots and virtual assistants to change the way services are delivered.

AI chatbots and digital dialogue

Chatbots can perform a variety of traditional health care functions, including booking appointments, ordering prescriptions, diagnosing symptoms, and providing basic medical information and advice.

A unique example is the use of a consulting service based on the AI chatbot Babylon Health based on the patient's medical history and standardized medical knowledge.

Patients can first report symptoms in an application that is monitored in an official medical database using language recognition technology. Based on the information provided, they will then receive a recommended action. The success of her work led her to partner with the NHS to create a digital classification system for referrals and health counseling during the COVID-19 crisis.

There is evidence to suggest that AI chatbots can be used to remove the stigma of sensitive medical conditions such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Research from the University of Westminster suggests that patients talk about their sexual health with an AI chatbot rather than a family doctor. In addition to changing service delivery, there is also evidence to suggest that AI is increasingly used in the diagnosis of NHS.

AI is used to make a diagnosis

The British Heart Foundation recently announced that AI is being used as a tool to improve patient care by identifying heart disease more quickly and accurately. Imaging technology works by analyzing magnetic resonance imaging of the heart while the patient is still on the scanner.

The analysis of the scan results takes only 20 seconds, compared to 13 minutes, which the doctor manually evaluates. The new device can also identify problems with the structure and function of the heart with 40% accuracy than the human eye.

Artificial intelligence technologies such as this could play an even more important role in supporting poor clinics as health services seek to recover from the pandemic critical care build-up. 

AI imaging technology is also an integral part of the National Optimal Stroke Imaging Pathway (NOSIP). It is used to speed up the clinical decision-making process by providing faster and more accurate real-time interpretation of scanned images. Diagnosis and treatment are very time consuming for stroke patients, and technologies such as these can help save lives.

Dealing with unfair health care

Artificial intelligence-led innovations are also used to address the various structural system problems associated with access to health care. The NHSX AI Lab (now part of the NHS Transformation Directorate) and the Health Foundation are currently working on a joint project with AI to address various health and ethical issues in the NHS.

There are a number of innovations in piping technology, such as I-SIRch, that use AI technology to more easily identify clinical factors that lead to adverse birth defects in ethnic minority mothers. Black women in the United Kingdom are five times more likely to die of pregnancy complications than white women.

I-SIRch will explore how you can combine the various factors that contribute to these birth defects and create better forms of intervention.

AI diagnostics for ethnic minorities has also been developed to improve the accuracy of diabetic retinopathy screening. Recent studies have shown that people from Native American, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Caribbean ethnic groups have an increased risk of developing diabetic retinopathy compared to white people and are misdiagnosed due to several different retinal compositions.

In addition to changes in diagnostic methods, AI technology also uses healthcare to address some of the basic health care inequalities exposed to a pandemic.

Greater role of artificial intelligence in the post-pandemic health system

Whatever the future for AI in the NHS, it clearly has a better role in the post-pandemic health care system. Recent innovations in AI have the potential to change the way healthcare and diagnostic services are delivered and to address some of the fundamental health inequalities exposed to a pandemic.