NHS Meets AI: A Love Story (With Red Tape, Bias, and Just a Hint of Hope)

By Antonia @ Unremarkable Me | June 2025

Let’s be real: when most people think of the NHS and “technology,” they picture a fax machine that wheezes like a Victorian ghost, a receptionist typing with one index finger, or that one vending machine in the waiting room that’s been broken since 1983. So when someone says “the NHS is using AI,” it can sound a bit like saying “your nan just got TikTok famous.”

But surprise! It’s happening.

Quietly—awkwardly—and with all the grace of a pigeon trying to do ballet, the NHS is starting to bring artificial intelligence into healthcare. And believe it or not, it might actually work.

We’re talking faster diagnoses, less paperwork, and maybe—just maybe—a system where people with chronic illness aren’t treated like walking anomalies or forgotten altogether.

So, what could possibly go wrong? Oh, just data protection laws, public trust, algorithmic bias, and the potential for your GP to be replaced by a computer that doesn't know what a "bad pain day" is. But we'll get to that.

What’s AI Got to Do with It?

At its core, artificial intelligence in healthcare isn’t about turning doctors into obsolete meat sacks. It’s about giving them tools that are faster at recognising patterns, more consistent at flagging risk, and—unlike humans—don’t spend half the morning trying to remember where they left their stethoscope.

Enter the NHS AI Lab: the government’s answer to “What if HAL 9000 didn’t kill astronauts but helped detect cancer?” It's funding projects that range from early diagnosis tools to admin automation.

A standout trial? The Mammography AI Screening Trial (MAST)—the largest of its kind on the planet. It’s using AI to analyse 700,000 mammograms to see if the machines can spot breast cancer as well—or better—than overworked radiologists who haven’t had a lunch break since 2019.

Other NHS-funded trials include:

• DERMIS – AI-powered skin condition spotting

• AIDE – helping detect cancerous lung nodules before they get missed

• AI2CV – predicting heart attack and stroke risk using medical records

So yes—robots might not make your tea yet, but they could stop your cancer going unnoticed.

Faster, Smarter, Snarkier: What AI Can Actually Do

Let’s break it down. Here’s what AI is already helping with—and why it should matter even if you're too tired to care anymore.

Speed

AI processes scans, tests, and medical records faster than a junior doctor on their sixth espresso. At East Kent Hospitals, AI has saved 500 hours of clinician time per month. That’s time doctors can spend doing things like… treating patients.🔗 Source: NHS AI Award – East Kent

Accuracy

Unlike humans, AI doesn’t get hangry or distracted. It can spot things even the best radiologist might miss.Case in point: Kheiron Medical’s tool, used in NHS breast cancer screening, matched or beat doctors in early detection—and it never once called in sick.

Personalised Care

Imagine medicine that actually accounts for your history, genetics, and previous reactions instead of the old “try this and come back if it makes you worse” approach. AI-powered systems are being paired with genomic medicine to create smarter, more tailored treatment plans.

Admin Automation

Ah, paperwork. The black hole of modern medicine. NHS staff spend up to 50% of their time on it.At UCLH, AI is helping draft discharge summaries and referral letters automatically—so people can get on with actually caring for humans.

Chronic Illness and AI: A Potential Lifesaver in Disguise

If you live with a complex or invisible illness, chances are you've been:

• Told it's all in your head

• Misdiagnosed five times

• Given a printout on IBS and told to hydrate

Now imagine a system that remembers your entire medical history, analyses patterns across departments, and doesn’t require you to retell your story every. single. time.

For those of us with EDS, POTS, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia or neurodivergent conditions, AI could be the long-missing link between fragmented care and actual answers.In fact, the NHS is already using AI to help predict flare-ups in inflammatory conditions and non-specific fatigue pathways that often stump GPs.

For once, maybe the system will stop asking “But have you tried yoga?”

But First… Bureaucracy!

Look, nothing involving the NHS and technology comes without a side order of regulatory red tape. So here’s what’s slowing things down:

GDPR – AKA, the Fun Sponge

Yes, your data should be protected. No, it doesn’t make AI research easy.The UK GDPR requires explicit consent for data use, especially medical data. And if people withdraw that consent mid-project? Poof—dataset gone. Trial dead in the water.

The “Explain It Like I’m Five” Problem

Patients have a legal right to know how AI came to a decision.Unfortunately, many AI systems operate like chaotic geniuses who can solve the problem but cannot for the life of them explain how

.🔗 Explainable AI – UK Gov Report

Bias and Inequality

If your training data is 90% white, male, and middle-class, your AI isn’t inclusive—it’s just automated bias.The NHS now requires bias testing for AI projects, but that doesn’t undo the years of skewed datasets that led to misdiagnoses and under-treatment of marginalised groups.

🔗 Health Foundation: AI & Fairness

What’s Being Done to Fix It?

Thankfully, the NHS isn’t handing AI the keys and saying “Good luck, see you at Christmas.”

Here’s what’s in place:

• DTAC: Tech approval criteria for NHS apps/tools

• Bias audits: Required for all AI projects funded by NHS

• Regulatory sandboxes: Trial zones with oversight from the MHRA and ICO

• Digital Information Bill: A legislative attempt to modernise data law without losing protections

It’s not perfect. But it’s a start.

So, What’s Next?

If AI is done right, it won’t just patch the NHS—it might actually evolve it.

Faster triage, smarter diagnostics, and fewer people lost in the system. But the work isn’t done. For this to succeed, we need:

• Inclusive data

• Transparent algorithms

• Real people with real oversight

• And a healthcare culture that stops treating tech like a magic wand.

  
  

Final Thought (Now With Feeling)

This isn’t a utopia story. This is a "let's try not to drown" story.

For chronically ill patients, AI won’t undo the gaslighting or give us back the years we spent chasing diagnoses. But it might stop that from happening to someone else. And that? That’s enough to fight for.

So no—AI isn’t a miracle.

But if it means fewer misdiagnoses, fewer years lost in referral limbo, and one less person being told it’s all in their head?

Then let’s build it. Carefully. Equitably. Humanely.

And as always—Hope, humour, and humanity will carry us through.Be kind to yourself. The future isn’t perfect, but hey—at least it’s finally reading the manual.

Love Unremarkable Me