The NHS is in crisis, ambulance waiting times are at an all-time high, and doctors and experts are expressing their concerns for the coming winter months.
A key focus area for the NHS is to cut wait times, especially for emergency services, to ensure people most in need of urgent care are seen to as quickly as possible. For this to happen, access to care needs to be improved drastically to ensure more effective use of front-line staff time and resources, improve staff experiences amid huge talent shortages, and ultimately, help save lives. Early in September, the then Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced an extra £150 million of funding to help trusts deal with ambulance pressures this year, and referenced how the NHS can ‘draw on the huge advances in technology that we’ve seen during the pandemic.’
Technology is a vital tool to facilitate faster response times. However, our recent research shows that despite the success of increased digital health services throughout the pandemic, there are significant untapped digital opportunities within the NHS which could help ease extreme pressures.
Manual call handling delaying urgent care
For example, data collected through a Freedom of Information request found that for nearly half (45%) of NHS Ambulance Trusts, more than four in five calls are either not urgent or life-threatening, with the majority of calls dealt with manually by staff. Ambulance call handling staff are being flooded with non-urgent calls, with just two in ten needing urgent care. With calls being answered manually, there is no way to prioritise or divert patients before they reach the call handlers.
This is a prime example of where technology can make a demonstrable difference. Conversational AI can help handle high call volumes, collect information and expedite the most urgent cases to NHS staff dealing with emergency calls. Such AI can be deployed within healthcare contact centres to facilitate faster response times, by collecting information and quickly screening callers before they make their way to call handlers.
While some ambulance services have already integrated AI into their call handling, 91% are not yet realising the benefits. Almost two-thirds currently have no plans to implement AI technologies to help deal with the burgeoning number of calls to ambulance services. However, with two of the ambulance trusts questioned planning to implement AI to enable call prioritisation in the next twelve months, it is clear that some trusts are embracing innovation faster than others. The lack of a cohesive approach across the NHS, in this case within ambulance services, could lead to disparities in care.
Winter is coming
As winter flu season looms and Covid cases will likely soar again, now is the time for the NHS to invest in technologies like conversational AI to help alleviate extreme pressures on staff while streamlining costs. Amid reports of NHS staff facing unprecedented levels of burnout and stress, pressures on healthcare professionals must be addressed. As reported in the BMJ, “Barely one in four (27 per cent) people working in the NHS feel that there are enough staff in their organisation to allow them to do their jobs properly, while there are also concerning increases in the proportion of staff suffering work-related stress and, sadly, thinking about quitting the NHS.”
While technology must answer the needs of patients, it must also address the very real concerns of the NHS’ most precious resource – its people. NHS staff were among the heroes during the pandemic, and now they need access to the tools and technologies that support and empower them further. The employee experience is important for any business, especially during the ongoing talent shortage. Adopting new digital innovations, like AI, is not only about ensuring a service that is fit for purpose, but about supporting front-line staff to deliver their best, while also maintaining citizens’ trust in this most vital of public services.
Building a foundation of trust
Trust is a massive driver for the adoption of new technologies. This summer saw record-breaking ambulance waiting times, with warnings that this is set to worsen over winter.
As the NHS deals with unprecedented demand that shows little sign of abating, it must find new ways to facilitate faster emergency response and reduce waiting times for the public or face losing trust and support. Once trust is broken, it’s hard to rebuild. But with consistent and reliable improvements, the NHS has a chance to deliver, improving patient and staff experiences and reduce waiting times by investing in solutions that will help get the job done more efficiently.
The healthcare industry has seen massive digital shifts, changing how patients interact with the NHS and heightening their expectations. As cloud adoption increases, more benefits ripple out to customers and call staff. The NHS needs next-gen care that harnesses the best of human empathy, skill, expertise, and compassion supported by AI-empowered technology that improves care in ways humans cannot achieve alone.
By Brian Atkinson, General Manager and Vice President EMEA at Five9
