Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will establish a standard process for the implementation of AI applications in the NHS.

The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the National Health Service is still at a relatively early stage. To address this, the Department is carrying out work to assess the barriers of effective adoption and improve the way AI tools are implemented across the NHS.

The Department is supporting the NHS to adopt the latest innovations in digital technology, such as AI. £2 billion has been allocated to digitise the NHS and £113 million has been provided to accelerate the evaluation and deployment of the most promising AI technologies.

Additionally, the Department has supported the launch of regulatory projects to begin to create a standardized process for AI implementation, such as with 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 regulatory and evaluation pathways that need to be followed before an AI tool can be safely implemented across the NHS. 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.

Following the announcement of the Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have been working with Prime Minister's Office to develop specific proposals of how they will promote the implementation of AI. This includes using a Scan, Pilot, Scale model approach to investing and supporting AI development, to ensure that useful AI tools are quickly identified, tested and, where successful, implemented to improve the lives of United Kingdom citizens.