Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned timescale is for (a) completing and (b) assessing the projects undertaken under the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The AI in Health and Care Award was created to help accelerate the testing of artificial intelligence technologies most likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, and to develop an evidence base to support the commissioning of technologies that are clinically and cost effective. A total of £123 million has been allocated to 86 artificial intelligence technologies and of these, 48 awards have been completed, 13 are scheduled to conclude by March 2024, 17 by March 2025, five by March 2026, and three by September 2026.

All awarded technologies, aside from phase one and phase two projects, are expected to submit an evaluation one month after their completion. Evaluations are not publicly released, but will inform policy and commissioning decisions. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/artificial-intelligence-in-health-and-care-award-guidance-for-competition-2-all-phases-stage-1/26004#assessment-criteria

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 29 March 2023 to Question 173068 on Mental Health Services: Artificial Intelligence, when he plans to publish the results of the app testing.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The real-world testing of WYSA, which is one of the projects for the AI in Health and Care Award, finished in August 2023. The results are being independently evaluated by a Technology Specific Evaluation team from iCAIRD and are expected to be published early 2024.

Evaluations of AI in Health and Care projects will fill key evidence gaps for relevant published evidence standards frameworks and focus on accuracy, safety, effectiveness, value, fit with site, implementation, feasibility of scale up and sustainability of scale up.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide details of the event planned by his Department with clinicians and data scientists on artificial intelligence.

Answered by Will Quince

An NHS England-led task and finish group are working with the No.10 Downing Street Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Applied Mathematics Team, who are carrying out analysis of collections of prose-based safety reports. On 21 August 2023, a roundtable event was held at Downing Street with clinical experts involving discussions on the use of AI and machine learning in the analysis of maternity ward-based patient safety incident reports, which has successfully produced a model for analysis.

Over the coming months, NHS England will explore whether this model can be applied to other data rich maternity safety reports as a means of delivering new insights on potential safety signals for informing the Perinatal Quality Surveillance Model.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the artificial intelligence (AI) applications funded to date under the NHS AI Lab's AI in Health and Care Awards; and how much each developer has received to date.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The AI in Health and Care Award has provided £123 million to 86 AI technologies over three funding rounds. The Award is accelerating the testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

These are live in more than 340 primary care networks and 40% of National Health Service acute trusts in England. The AI solutions are helping patients by supporting stroke diagnosis, cancer screening, cardiovascular monitoring and managing disease at home.

The AI in Health and Care Award will not be considering any more funding applications, and all projects are set to complete either before or by 2025. The full list of the 86 projects and the developers granted funding from the AI in Health and Care Award is available in an online-only format on NHS England’s website.

The funding allocated to projects that applied in the first two funding rounds is available in an online-only format at the Contracts Finder on GOV.uk. The funding provided to the nine projects for round three will be made available on the same website later this year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to commission research on the potential impact of artificial intelligence on (a) diagnostics, (b) health economics and (c) clinicians' workloads.

Answered by Will Quince

Since 2017, the Department has invested £148 million through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and an additional £123 million through the AI in Health and Care Award to research artificial intelligence in healthcare. This is funding research into the potential impact of artificial intelligence on diagnosis and treatment for major conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and research into how the technology can be used to improve NHS services and reduce the burden of clinicians’ workloads.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2023 to Question 166295 on Mental Health Services: Artificial Intelligence, how much of the £123 million provided for AI technologies will be designated for the development of AI technologies for mental health treatment.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The National Health Service Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab is supporting the testing and evaluations of the most promising AI technologies that can meet the needs of the NHS Long Term Plan through the AI in Health and Care Award. As part of the Award, £1,933,883 has been awarded to projects related to mental health.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2023 to Question 166295 on Mental Health Services: Artificial Intelligence, when he plans to publish the results of the app testing.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

As part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Health and Care Award, the National Health Service AI Lab is funding the first real world testing of the WYSA, a digital health app that uses an AI chatbot, and a series of self-care exercises, to provide mental health support and help people develop strategies to manage their mental health. The results from the project are due in August 2023.

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 efficacy of AI therapeutics for mental health treatment.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Health and Care Award has provided £123 million to 86 AI technologies. The Award was created to accelerate the testing and evaluation of some of the most promising AI technologies that can support clinicians in stroke diagnosis, cancer screening, cardiovascular monitoring and managing mental health conditions.

One such technology funded by the Department’s AI in Health and Care Award is Wysa, a digital health app that uses an AI chatbot and a series of self-care exercises to provide mental health support and help people develop strategies to manage their mental health.

The app is being tested to see if it can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in people who are referred to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies as well as help identify people who are experiencing severe mental health difficulties so they can be provided with additional support.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral statement of 9 January 2023 on NHS winter pressures, Official Report, column 287, what interventions using artificial intelligence his Department is considering for wider implementation.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department is funding the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award, which is accelerating the testing and evaluation some of the most promising artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can support clinicians in diagnosis, monitoring disease and managing health conditions at home.

The Award has provided more than £100 million to 77 AI technologies which are live in 53 hospitals in the United Kingdom.

The Department has also provided £800,000 to Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) to fund 16 data-driven projects, including ‘machine-learning’, to pin-point and overcome pressures in the health care system.

The HDR UK projects are due to start early this year and will share their findings later in the year.

The Department is also piloting operational efficiency and workforce productivity tools that can help significantly reduce elective care waiting lists, which will also help to relieve some of the pressures caused by winter. The tools have been developed as part of the NHS National Data Platform. During the proof-of-concept stage, they helped Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust achieve a 46% reduction in their inpatient waiting list, improved theatre utilisation by 6% and re-prioritised more than 2,000 patients.

This proof-of-concept has since transitioned to a pilot and the tools are now being tested in 27 trusts. The pilot will report its finding in March 2023.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to integrate AI technology into the health system.

Answered by Will Quince

The NHS Artificial Intelligence Laboratory was established in 2019 to accelerate the safe, ethical and effective adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care. It is funding research into testing 77 of most promising AI technologies through its Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award. These technologies are being tested in 65 hospitals, supporting more than 200,000 patients. The Laboratory is funding a multi-agency advisory service to streamline the regulatory pathway and research with the Health Foundation, to ensure AI meets safety and ethical standards. The Laboratory is also working with Health Education England to increase confidence in AI in the National Health Service workforce.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to assess the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence (AI) in the NHS.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

In February 2021, we launched the AI Ethics Initiative, as part of the NHS AI Lab, to support research and practical interventions that could strengthen the ethical adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in health and social care. The focus of the Initiative is to counter the inequalities which can arise as these technologies are developed and deployed. We are funding research to ensure AI accounts for the health needs of diverse communities and how it can improve health outcomes in minority ethnic populations. We are also funding research to discover insights and potential approaches to strengthen safeguards and parameters that govern the deployment of AI across healthcare, such as the potential to assess the societal impact before it is used.

Found: HL Deb 21 June 2023 | PQ HL8419 Health Services: Artificial Intelligence Asked by: Smith, Greg