The UK government has launched Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s AI Exemplars programme, which includes projects designed to use AI to improve public services. The goal of the programme is to use AI to free up time for frontline staff by automating admin tasks and paperwork.
The initiative is part of the government’s Plan for Change, which aims to drive efficiencies and boost growth. One key project announced today, being developed at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, is a tool that uses a large language model to help doctors draft discharge documents by extracting information from medical records.
This AI tool is intended to address an outdated system that can leave patients on hospital wards for hours waiting for documents to be completed. Incredibly, despite all of the waiting around, the current system can even include inaccurate patient details being recorded. The AI tool’s results will still be evaluated by a medical expert before a patient is discharged to spot any errors. The tool is still being trialled and will only be rolled out depending on its success.
The discharge summary tool is part of the NHS Federated Data Platform, allowing for secure and efficient information handover between different care services. The Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting stated that this move would build an NHS fit for the future by helping to tackle hospital backlogs.
Aside from the NHS tool, another project being worked on is Justice Transcribe, which will be used by all 12,000 probation officers to transcribe and take notes during meetings with offenders, halving the time spent on note organization. This technology is based on Minute, part of the government’s Humphrey suite of AI tools. The Justice Transcribe tool has already shown early success in trials by allowing officers to focus on personal interactions rather than note-taking.
The AI Exemplars program also includes projects for other government departments. For example, the Extract tool will convert handwritten planning documents and maps into data, saving up to 250,000 hours annually for planning officers. An AI Content Store is also being developed to create accurate AI tools for teachers to assist with marking and lesson planning, freeing them up for more face-to-face teaching, and there is the Humphrey suite which includes a tool called Consult that analyzes thousands of public consultation responses, creating interactive dashboards for policymakers.
Speaking on a 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. This government inherited a public sector decimated by years of under-investment and is crying out for reform. These AI Exemplars show the best ways in which we’re using tech to build a smarter, more efficient state. When we get this right across government, we’re talking about unlocking £45 billion in productivity gains – delivering our Plan for Change and investing in growth not bureaucracy.”
The new project will be trialled in their areas in the coming months before we will see any wider rollout. This will help to ensure that they work properly to reduce any incorrect outputs that could negatively impact the public sector.