Webinar summary: In the first of two articles, we look at how GP groups across the UK are using AI triage to deal effectively with patient demand.

AI is playing a vital role in the delivery of primary care, revealed a recent GovConnect webinar held with some of the country’s most forward-thinking GPs and healthcare leaders. More than 150 primary care stakeholders joined the discussion around the benefits of AI-driven healthcare solutions.

The opportunities for AI in healthcare delivery

NHSX’s Director of AI Indra Joshi began the webinar by revealing the extensive ways that NHSX was encouraging exploration of the use of AI in healthcare. Successes include the national Covid-19 chest imaging database, the AI in Health and Care Awards, and a buyer’s guide to AI.

These have all shown how AI can play an active role in the delivery of healthcare, although Indra noted ‘we’re very aware that this is a complex landscape’. The development of algorithmic impact assessments, for example, will look to address ethical and regulatory issues around AI. Indra was quick to invite people to become part of this journey as the NHS looks to optimise the use of technology to support clinical care.

How does AI support GPs?

So how have GPs been using AI in primary care? The discussion turned to Klinik, an AI triage and decision aid tool that supports clinicians to optimise their workflow and patients’ experience of care. The technology streamlines patient enquires into a single, integrated system, flags the urgency of these enquiries, and provides differential diagnosis. The technology also provides real-time data on patient queries by time, frequency and condition.

According to Harrow Health GP Federation’s Dr Kanesh Rajani: “Every patient contact can be triaged by the Klinik AI system. This means that every problem is triaged effectively, and the right person provides the right care to the patient at the right time.”
The adaptability and versatility of Klinik’s technology was highlighted. "The beauty of the system is that it can adapt to the needs of the GP, the local practice and the patient […] the GP can agree or modify the decision and redirect the patient to the right care provider.”

How is AI technology being used in general practice?

Haxby Group’s Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell shared how AI technology is helping his team adapt and specialise to meet local need at the Haxby Group. Data produced by Klinik on case timings and condition types is allowing them “to map our workforce to meet demand on an hour-by-hour basis.”

“Having the condition types has allowed us to be much more nuanced in our workforce planning, to recognise the sorts of workforce that we need for each individual population around each of our sites. We can customise the sort of care that we're able to deliver.”

Harrow’s Dr Samson Jebutu also praised the system for being able to understand the most common conditions and symptoms to aid effective resource management. “We can proactively make sure that we have the right resources in place,” he said.

Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell also discussed the benefits of Klinik’s urgency indicator and symptom recognition functions: “Being able to support the clinician or the care navigator with some urgency recommendation from the software […] allows us to ensure that the care is delivered by the right person at the right time, which is very helpful in a practice such as mine where we are dealing with lots of different professionals with different skill sets.”

Thomas also remarked on the usability of Klinik’s interfaces from a staff and patient perspective, which has resulted in fantastic patient uptake across Haxby Group’s practices. “Our clinicians and care navigators say the Klinik makes it straightforward to interpret the clinical information presented and make triage decisions quickly.

The Klinik AI engine also provides a differential diagnosis, which can become a useful decision aid for care givers and other members of the team. It could “support clinicians to identify a rare diagnosis we might not be aware of and reduce the unknown unknowns for clinicians,” the Haxby Group doctor said.

This approach was also helping practices enhance their patient flow. Klinik’s Dr Nick Hayward - who chaired the discussion - went showed the audience how the AI works with tools that enable the simple redirection of queries to the appropriate clinical or non-clinical resource. Thoughtfully designed by practising GPs, Klinik is helping practices become an effective and efficient digital front door to care.

What next?

The webinar highlighted the increasingly vital role AI has to play in ensuring that GPs can adapt to the evolving demands on healthcare services. With the use of AI, Klinik’s innovative technology is already helping GPs up and down the UK streamline patient management, optimise their workforce and plan for the future.

Watch the webinar here >>

Read part two of our webinar article on how AI technology is helping patients access care.

Contact us to arrange a demo of how your practice could benefit from Klinik’s total triage solution.

Klinik Access is an online consultation & patient flow management software that directs patients to the optimal resource in primary care. The system’s unique algorithm interprets the person’s symptoms to make a provisional assessment, and estimates the urgency of the care needed. Based on this, the person is automatically referred to the right place for care to begin.