NHS hospital pilots AI in discharge summaries

In the UK, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been involved in a pilot of the use of AI in discharge summaries — part of the UK Government’s AI Exemplars programme, announced in August. The AI-assisted tool is designed to help doctors draft discharge documents faster by extracting key details from medical records, such as diagnoses and test results, using a large language model. After a full review from a medical expert responsible for the patient, these documents are then used to discharge a patient from a ward and refer them to other care services that may be needed.

“It would radically improve an outdated system that can leave patients on wards unnecessarily for hours, waiting for time-pressed doctors providing urgent care to sit down and fill in forms before they can go home,” the government said in a statement. “In some cases, the current system for writing discharge summaries can also inaccurately record basic patient details — like what treatment they’ve had, or changes to medication — and put them in harms way.”

The idea behind the program is that ‘exemplars’ — such as the program at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; an AI diagnostics program to identify conditions such as lung cancer from scans; and a Ministry of Justice probation casework program, announced at the same time as the discharge documents program — will be developed and trialled, with those showing the most promise potentially rolled out more widely.

Speaking on a 13 August visit to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This is exactly the kind of change we need: AI being used to give doctors, probation officers and other key workers more time to focus on delivering better outcomes and speeding up vital services.”

Images: On 13 August, Peter Kyle and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology team were welcomed by Roger Chinn, Chief Medical Officer, Marcella Vizcaychipi, Chief Clinical Information Officer, Gary Davies, Hospital Medical Director for Chelsea, and many of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust staff demonstrating the innovative ways the Trust is currently harnessing the use of AI in both clinical care and administrative work flows. Source: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust