Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the use of artificial intelligence in NHS diagnostics.

The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in the National Health Service is still at a relatively early stage, with the majority of AI technologies, including diagnostic tools, being deployed in a research capacity. To address this, the Department is carrying out work to assess the barriers of effective adoption and improve the way AI tools are deployed across the NHS. The NHS AI Lab’s Ethics Initiative invests in research and practical interventions that could strengthen the ethical adoption of AI within health and care and addresses risks and concerns over its use.

Additionally, the Department has supported the launch of regulatory projects such as the AI and Digital Regulation Service (AIDRS) and the AI Airlock. The AIDRS, in partnership with healthcare regulators, gives innovators and health and care providers a one-stop-shop for support, information, and guidance on the regulation and evaluation of AI technologies. The AI Airlock is a Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency-led initiative, supported by the NHS AI Lab, designed to create a controlled testing environment where developers can rigorously validate AI tools in real-world clinical settings before full-scale deployment, ensuring they meet NHS standards for safety, efficacy, and integration into existing healthcare workflows.