NHS Expands AI Tools Access to 500,000 Staff After Trial Shows Major Time Savings
Advertisement
The largest AI trial findings suggest staff could save the equivalent of nearly two working days each month and five weeks of recovered time per employee annually.
NHS England has announced a major expansion of artificial intelligence tools across the health service, giving more than 500,000 NHS staff access to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
The rollout is expected to help reduce administrative workloads, with the largest AI trial findings suggesting staff could save the equivalent of nearly two working days each month that can be redirected toward patient-facing responsibilities and operational priorities.
More than 30,000 employees across 90 NHS organizations participated in the evaluation of Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI-powered assistant integrated into workplace productivity software.
According to the findings, participants reported average time savings of 43 minutes per day through assistance with document drafting, information summarization, content creation, data analysis, and other administrative activities.
NHS England estimates this translates into approximately five weeks of recovered time per employee annually and could collectively save millions of staff hours each month when implemented at scale.
Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer at NHS England, said, “The NHS wants to embrace cutting-edge technology, and this Microsoft partnership will mean staff can be freed from admin so they can focus more of their time on what matters most – improving care for patients.”
Health Innovation and Safety Minister Preet Kaur Gill said, “Technology should support our NHS staff, not slow them down. This government is putting innovation to work for patients: helping staff work more efficiently, improving productivity and supporting a modern NHS that delivers better care, faster access to treatment and better value for taxpayers”.
NHS England expects the AI tools to support a wide range of functions, including clinical administration, patient discharge planning, workforce scheduling, bed management, medical correspondence, meeting documentation, and operational planning.
The technology will also be used across human resources, finance, procurement, and management teams.
NHS trusts will receive licence allocations based on workforce size, with the full rollout to more than 500,000 NHS staff targeted for completion by October 2026.
Stay tuned for more such updates on Digital Health News
