NHS volunteers are being ‘supercharged’ by AI to help reduce the waitlist backlog

Helpforce is thrilled to be working with Deep Medical at two Warwickshire NHS hospitals, equipping volunteers with new AI tools to target the calls they make to people ahead of appointments. This will increase the impact of these volunteering services, helping to reduce missed appointments and health inequalities.

Following the success of the NHS Foundation Trust trial in Mid-South East Essex, which is now helping to save the Trust £27.5 million, volunteers at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in Nuneaton and South Warwickshire University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are being armed with new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to help reduce waiting lists.

Deep Medical, the company behind this breakthrough, is co-founded by an NHS doctor. In 2020 Dr Benyamin Deldar, alongside his co-founder David Hanbury (a leading data scientist), embarked on a mission to reduce health inequality.

Deep Medical and Helpforce have come together to identify ways that call centres and volunteer support can use AI tools to target people most at risk of missing their diagnostic and treatment appointments. This means waiting lists are reduced and – most importantly – people get into treatment more quickly.

Deep Medical is now training volunteers to use their latest software, Deep Medical Schedules. Their aim is to identify patients who are at high risk of missing their appointments and who might need additional support, like transport, someone to greet them at the hospital, or to change the date of the appointment.

Pilot results show that in the first phase of work, there has been a 28.8% reduction in DNA (Did Not Attend) rates, compared to before any volunteer calls were made. This equates to £36,157 per week of total added value across both trusts.

Additionally, Deep Medical’s AI systems also have the power to implement a backup booking system from other patients on a waiting list. In doing so, they’ll improve patient access to care, reduce the number of missed appointments and ensure clinical staff time is not wasted.

The impact of missed appointments

No-shows are a huge problem for the NHS, but patients often miss appointments through no fault of their own and this can have a detrimental impact on their long-term health. Whether it’s having difficulty getting time off work, language barriers, cultural sensitivities (like wanting to be seen by a female doctor) or being unable to access public transport.

Published data shows that of 124.5 million outpatient appointments across the NHS in England last year, eight million (6.4%) were not attended by the patient. It is estimated this level of missed appointments has an annual cost to the NHS of £1.5 billion per year.

Testing AI’s impact on waiting lists

The projects with George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and South Warwickshire University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust mark Deep Medical’s continued expansion into NHS work. Deep Medical is piloting initiatives to reduce waiting lists at 10 of the 42 integrated care services in England. Initial trials have shown a £12.72 return on investment for every £1 spent by the trust. Due to this success, NHS England is now rolling out their AI software to an additional 10 Trusts.

Deep Medical co-founder, Benyamin Deldar, said: “Volunteers are crucial to the NHS for the future of healthcare and helping to tackle health inequality. They understand their local community better than anyone else and understand the barriers people may face to book an appointment.

“Deep Medical’s advanced AI helps tackle key barriers that prevent patients from attending appointments, such as the inability to afford hospital parking, limited access to rideshare apps, restricted communication outlets, and complex personal schedules. By addressing these issues, the AI ensures that patients have better access to the healthcare they need.

“We are always looking at developing new ways of working to help superpower volunteering using AI and are looking forward to making a difference to patients’ lives - and to getting the waiting lists down.”

Jenni Northcote, Chief Strategy, Improvement and Partnership Officer at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, said: "Our volunteers are truly fabulous, the hours they contribute touch people's lives and make a real difference. In this initiative our volunteers utilise intelligent data to contact individuals who may be struggling to attend appointments and understand the barriers they face in accessing care, or, if they no longer require an appointment, ensure it can be offered to other patients. We have seen a fantastic reduction in DNA’s and learned a lot about the issues people face in attending appointments, helping us to develop more patient-focused services."

Mark Lever, Helpforce Chief Executive, said: “Combining forces with Deep Medical is an important development for our charity – really boosting our mission to accelerate the growth and impact of volunteering in health and care.

“We’ve been supporting George Eliot Hospital to pilot and evaluate the impact of volunteers calling people ahead of appointments, and we know that has already reduced missed appointments. With access to Deep Medical’s waiting list AI tool, this is set to significantly increase, with volunteers able to target calls to the people most likely to struggle to get to their appointment. This will improve the system’s efficiency and, most importantly, get often vulnerable people diagnosed and into treatment more quickly, helping to reduce health inequalities.”

Harkamal Heran, Chief Operating Officer at South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are pleased to be working in collaboration with Foundation Group partner, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Helpforce, and Deep Medical to enable us to utilise technology and harness the benefits of artificial intelligence.

"Timely access to diagnostic tests and hospital appointments is crucial in quickly diagnosing and treating illnesses such as cancer.

"Our partnership has enabled us to develop tools to provide volunteers, who are vital in supporting our organisation to provide outstanding patient care, with increased information. With the additional data, these volunteers can assist patients in accessing timely diagnostic tests and appointments, further enhancing our services."