AI will be used to reduce patient wait times at University College London Hospitals

University College London Hospitals (UCLH), one of the largest hospitals in London, announced today that it will recruit artificial intelligence to carry out some tasks currently undertaken by doctors and nurses, with the goal of improving emergency room admittance rates, follow-up appointment attendance, and speed for routine tests. Machine learning algorithms supplied by the Alan Turing Institute will pore over admittance data to track how doctors and patients move through the hospital and identify potential bottlenecks. According to a March survey published by the U.K.'s National Health Service, just 76.4 percent of patients requiring urgent care at London hospitals were treated within four hours -- the lowest proportion since 2010, when records began. UCLH CEO Marvel Levi told the Guardian that a future version of the software might prioritize patients based on the severity of their symptom, such as fast-tracking a person suffering from abdominal pain who is likely to have appendicitis, kidney disease, or another critical ailment. A second project, which was developed by UCLH clinical research associate Parashkev Nachev, will flag patients who are most likely to miss appointments, taking into account factors such as age, address, and weather conditions, and will automatically text reminders or even reschedule visits.