The NHS is to use AI to analyse hospital data and sound the alarm on potential patient safety scandals early, in what will be a world-first.
Patterns of deaths, serious injuries, abuse or other incidents that go otherwise undetected will be identified.
The move, part of a new 10-year plan for the health service, follows a series of scandals in the NHS.
These include Mid Staffs, where an estimated up to 1,200 patients died as a result of poor care, and the Countess of Chester Hospital, for which nurse Lucy Letby is serving 15 whole life orders after she was convicted of killing seven babies and attempting to murder seven more.
Earlier this month, health secretary Wes Streeting announced a national investigation into “systemic” failures in maternity care, after families were “gaslit” in their search for the truth.
Mr Streeting said the AI plan would make it easier to spot danger signs earlier.
A new maternity AI system will launch across NHS trusts from November, using “near real-time data” to flag higher-than-expected rates of death, stillbirth and brain injury.
Mr Streeting said: “While most treatments in the NHS are safe, even a single lapse that puts a patient at risk is one too many.
“Behind every safety breach is a person, a life altered, a family devastated, sometimes by heartbreaking loss.
“By embracing AI and introducing world-first early warning systems, we’ll spot dangerous signs sooner and launch rapid inspections before harm occurs.
“This technology will save lives, catching unsafe care before it becomes a tragedy.
“It’s a vital part of our commitment to move the NHS from analogue to digital, delivering better, safer care for everyone.”
Where the AI flags concerns, specialist teams from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will be sent out to investigate.
Professor Meghana Pandit, co-national medical director of the NHS, said England would be the “first country in the world to trial an AI-enabled warning system to flag patient safety issues which will rapidly analyse routine hospital data and reports submitted by healthcare staff from community settings.
“The move will turbo-charge the speed and efficiency with which we identify patient safety concerns and enable us to respond rapidly to improve patient care.”
The chief executive of the CQC Sir Julian Hartley said the move would allow the health service to “develop a stronger focus on all dimensions of quality”.
But nursing leaders expressed concerns that it could lead to other ways to improve patient safety being ignored.
The general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing Professor Nicola Ranger said: “The guaranteed way to improve care is to raise staffing levels. In the NHS today, one nurse can be left caring for 10, 15 or more patients at a time. The situation is drastically unsafe. By the time an inspection takes place, it could already be too late.
“Technology will always have a role to play, but having the right number of staff on the front line of care is the place to start the investment to make patients safe.”
At the weekend the health secretary vowed to use tech as a “great social leveller”, and said he wants robots to perform one in eight operations by 2035.
Reports also suggest more than 200 bodies running parts of the NHS could be for the chop, after Mr Streeting called for “more doers and fewer checkers.”
