Rishi Sunak’s recent proposal to fine patients £10 for each missed NHS appointment has been met with fire from health bosses and professionals, who say we need AI technology, not “punishment”, to escape the crisis.
Sunak proposed the fines as part of changes he would make if he were to become Prime Minister, and says that £10 per patient (per appointment) would help to bring down waiting lists.
Bosses and healthcare professionals have fiercely disagreed with the “punishment” of patients, and have said that virtual hospital care , remote GP appointments and AI are more effective ways to save the NHS from crisis.
Digital solutions, not punishment
Digital tools and artificial intelligence have the potential to alleviate some of the massive pressures the NHS is facing, including a 6.6M patient backlog and a crippling shortage of staff.
Moving patients into more remote and virtual care, though still met with resistance from some patients, is being pushed as the most effective route out of the mess.
Fining patients is a “terribly disappointing” suggestion
More than a million GP appointments in England are missed every month, according to official statistics illustrating the problem. Each appointment costs an average of £30, putting the total cost to the NHS at more than £216m on top of the disruption for staff and fellow patients.
As reported by Health Tech World, technology enabling “stay at home” clinics and virtual hospital wards is set to transform in-person appointments by 2030 – with hopes of waiting lists reducing as a result.
Despite these major tech plans in place, Rushi Sunak’s idea to fine vulnerable and ageing patients £10 every time they miss an appointment has been met with fierce backlash.
Dr Layla McCay, NHS Confederation’s director of policy said that “penalising” patients unfairly will not solve the problem.
She added: “At a time when general practice and other services are facing record levels of demand, health leaders are working hard to use their stretched resources well.
“This includes supporting patients to attend appointments, and there are a range of ways this support has been extended already, including home visits, longer and weekend opening hours, remote consultations and managing appointments via the NHS app.
“However, it is important to recognise the reasons patients do not or cannot attend their appointments will be complex.”
“Don’t punish patients”
Dr Charles Armitage, founder of healthcare tech innovator Florence, said the fines will “in no way solve” the deeply concerning vacancy rate across the healthcare sector.
He added: “We simply don’t have the front line staff in place to deal with growing demands.
“If Rishi Sunak becomes Prime Minister, we need a long term strategy for fixing the NHS, not short term patches like this.
“The NHS and social care workforce is completely falling to pieces. The frontline staff kept the NHS together during the pandemic and promised it would get easier, but over the last six to eight weeks, managers have been trying to fill more and more shifts.
“Current staffing levels are significantly impacting quality of care.
He continued: “We’re seeing a dramatic increase in wait times as elective surgeries put on hold during COVID-19 restarted, but we simply don’t have the front line staff to deal with the added pressure.
“This, combined with a high vacancy rate, is leading to unprecedented pressure on healthcare services.
“The interface between the NHS and social care, A&E and discharge, or the front door and the back door of the healthcare system, is where we’re seeing the biggest pinch points and the system is really starting to break down.”
How can AI reduce waiting lists?
The SCC reports that “AI holds the key” to reducing patient waiting times and effectively treating more patients, more quickly. Though successful trusts have already started reducing waiting times in a systematic way, AI is the long-term and “sustainable solution” for helping the NHS out of the staffing crisis.
The NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit states: “Using a combination of automated call (chatbot), risk stratification and artificial intelligence, we help organisations prioritise and clinically validate waiting lists efficiently while maintaining quality of care.
“This solution saves huge amounts of time and staff resource, reducing hospital costs.
“Our successful pilot project with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust quickly cleansed the waiting list, enabling clinicians to prioritise seeing the most in-need patients in the manner those patients preferred.
Approximately 10 per cent of patients either no longer needed to be on the waiting list or wanted to come off it and 68 per cent were happy with a telephone consultation.
We are now piloting the use of artificial intelligence to reduce the amount of clinician time needed to prioritise patients on the cleansed list.
Mixed feelings about AI in healthcare
According to The Health Foundation, 40 per cent of NHS staff and the general public are ready to embrace a larger and increasing role of automation and AI in healthcare. A 60 per cent majority are still doubting its abilities and effectiveness.
Many, it says, still see AI and virtual care as becoming “impersonal” and that the lack of human contact will be detrimental.
The report reads: “The Health Foundation calls on policymakers and NHS leaders to invest in infrastructure and skills to enable NHS staff to use automation technologies and AI safely and effectively in the future, and to engage with the public and NHS workforce to build confidence in technology enabled care
“36 per cent of the general public and 44 per cent of NHS staff surveyed wanted to see more automation and AI in healthcare in the future – compared to 21 per cent of the public and 14 per cent of NHS staff who said they would like to see less.
“45 per cent of NHS staff felt that the main impact of automation and AI on health care workers will improve their quality of work by supporting them and enhancing their capabilities.
“36 per cent felt it would be to threaten jobs and professional status as these technologies replace humans in an increasing number of areas of healthcare.”
