More than three quarters of NHS staff (76%) support the use of AI to help with patient care, with 81% also in favour of its use for administrative tasks.
That’s according to a survey commissioned by the Health Foundation of 1,292 NHS staff members and 7,200 nationally representative members of the UK public (aged 16 years and older).
The public were less but still broadly receptive to the use of AI in healthcare, with 54% supporting its use in patient care and 61% for administrative purposes.
Given the potential for responsible AI to help ease the significant pressures facing the NHS, engaging with the public and NHS staff and understanding their views will be critical to making progress. This survey is one of the largest of its kind in the world and sought to understand current attitudes and concerns about the use of AI in healthcare.
The polling also found:
- Despite the public being broadly receptive to the use of AI in healthcare, there is still a significant minority who are currently not supportive. For example, around 1 in 6 members of the public (18%) and around 1 in 10 NHS staff surveyed (11%) think AI will make care quality worse.
- Among the public, young people (16-24) are less likely to believe that AI will improve care quality compared to other age groups, and women are less likely to believe that AI will improve care quality compared to men.
- The top two concerns with AI in healthcare were its potential impact on the interpersonal aspects of healthcare and its potential impact on decision-making accuracy.
- The public is concerned about the potential impact of AI on the accuracy of decision making. For example, nearly a third (30%) of the public think that one of the main possible disadvantages of AI will be that healthcare staff won’t question the outputs of AI systems, and so may miss errors.
- Also, over half of the public (53%) think AI will make them feel more distant from healthcare staff and nearly two-thirds of the NHS staff we surveyed (65%) think AI will make them feel more distant from patients.
- While the NHS staff surveyed are, on balance, looking forward to using AI as part of their role (57% agreeing, compared to 17% disagreeing), this is not equally felt across all occupational groups – with, for example, medical and dental staff being more positive than other clinical staff such as healthcare assistants and healthcare support workers.
The publication of this survey follows the Health Foundation’s call for a dedicated strategy for AI in healthcare. This was discussed at a recent summit with Minister of State for Health, Karin Smyth MP.
Assistant Director (Insight & Analysis) at the Health Foundation, Tim Horton, said: “Interest is growing rapidly in the potential of artificial intelligence to improve health care, and while it is not a panacea, it could play a significant role in helping to ease NHS pressures and support the workforce.
“Capitalising on the potential of AI will require a dedicated strategy to create agreement on priorities and provide greater direction for the NHS and industry. And engaging people in decisions about how AI should be used must be at the heart of this.
“If AI is to be accepted, and the benefits fully realised, it will have to command the confidence of patients, the public and NHS staff. The Health Foundation’s research suggests the public and NHS staff, on balance, support the use of AI for clinical and administrative purposes. But some remain unconvinced, and so it’s crucial to engage people in a conversation about the future of healthcare – in order to understand and address their concerns.
“It’s clear the public want a human to remain ‘in the loop’ for many uses of AI in healthcare, and they want AI technologies to be designed and used in ways that protect the human dimension of care. Our research also suggests the impact of AI will be felt differently across roles in healthcare, and so in helping staff adjust to the rise of AI, policy makers and NHS leaders will need to tailor the support they provide.”
To view the full report, click here.
