- NHS England is deploying M365 Copilot to 505k staff after pilot success
- The scheme targets 43 saved minutes per worker per day
- 200k initial rollout and extensive training promised
NHS England has announced a major AI expansion which will see it give more than half a million clinicians and support staff access to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
The move follows what Microsoft and NHS England described as the “largest AI trial of its kind globally in healthcare,” where 30,000 NHS workers got earlier access to M365 Copilot.
Under the initiative, NHS England hopes to reduce the administrative burden that clinicians face, improving productivity and cutting operational costs to free up more time to be spent on valuable human interactions.
Pilot program success leads to massive NHS England AI expansion
From its earlier pilot, NHS England found the average worker was able to gain back 43 minutes per day when using M365 Copilot, which is about the equivalent of five working weeks per year – not far from the average UK vacation allowance.
With a bigger rollout, the healthcare provider estimates it could save millions of hours every year.
“By rolling out Microsoft Copilot across the NHS, we can reduce that burden, free up clinicians’ time and help staff focus on what they do best, caring for patients,” UK Health Innovation and Safety Minister Preet Kaur Gill said.
Microsoft highlighted five key job roles set to benefit the most from NHS England’s adoption of its AI software – clinical administration, ward clerks, medical secretaries, core services and management – with it set to support writing, information retrieval, summarization and analysis. The subscription will also include Copilot Studio, a tool for building AI agents without workers having to be experts in AI.
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