NHS app to use AI to direct patients to appropriate services, with full rollout by April 2028

AI triage on the NHS app

The NHS will begin using artificial intelligence on its app to triage patients and determine the most appropriate service for their needs. The tool will ask a series of questions and, based on the responses, direct users to a GP appointment, a pharmacy, an A&E department, a community service or offer self-care advice. NHS England said the update would reach more than 200,000 patients in the next 12 months and be available to all app users by April 2028.

It will help get patients to the best service for their needs first time... so that clinicians can make sure those most in need of a GP appointment can get one sooner.

The rollout is part of a £10bn government funding package, allocated in 2025, to overhaul the health service's technology, digital and data systems. Ending the so-called 8am scramble for same-day GP appointments was a central Labour manifesto promise before its 2024 election victory.

Trial shows 29% drop in phone queues

An initial trial of the tool at Wealden Ridge Medical Partnership in Sussex led to a 29% reduction in the number of people queuing on the phone for a GP appointment. Dr Ragu Rajan, a GP at the practice, said integrating the tool had not replaced clinical judgement but had given staff back the time to use it.

It means our patients can tell us what they need, when they need it, and be directed to the right care first time. It hasn't replaced our judgement - it's given us back the time to use it.

Rollout timeline

£10bn tech overhaul and AI notetaking

The AI triage tool is one element of a wider technology investment. An England-wide rollout of AI notetaking tools will also begin, recording conversations between patients and NHS staff to generate real-time transcriptions and clinical summaries. It will start with hospital appointments not requiring an overnight stay at four NHS trusts in and around London: St George's, Epsom and St Helier, Croydon, and Kingston and Richmond. Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust are expanding their own AI notetaking programmes.

A trial led by Great Ormond Street Hospital across nine London sites found that NHS staff spent almost 25% more of their time interacting with patients when using the notetaking technology. Health secretary James Murray said he was certain the advances would free clinicians from paperwork and help drive down waiting times.

I am certain that new technological advances will get patients to the right care faster, free our brilliant clinicians from mountains of paperwork, and help drive down waiting times.

Cautious welcome from health leaders

The announcements have been largely welcomed, but health bodies urged the NHS to prioritise patient safety, confidentiality and inclusion as it grows more reliant on AI. Lynn Woolsey, chief nursing officer at the Royal College of Nursing, described the app rollout as an important step but warned against overly optimistic assessments of productivity benefits.

There are also warnings to heed, with growing concerns about overstated, overly optimistic assessments of the productivity benefits from AI. We cannot have situations where it increases bureaucracy through the need to correct flawed or inaccurate work.

Health leaders also expressed concerns that limited evidence exists on the productivity improvements AI can offer, that patient privacy could be compromised, and that those less confident using technology could be disadvantaged.