UCLH to harness the power of data science and AI

Working alongside The Alan Turing Institute, University College London Hospitals is embarking on a data science programme to support clinical decision making to make services safer, quicker and more efficient.

Brokered by the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR UCLH BRC), a £114 million translational research centre that transforms scientific breakthroughs into life-saving treatments for patients, the programme will focus on how the hospital’s A&E department run, aiming to improve the flow of staff and patients through the hospital.

Researchers at the NIHR UCLH BRC and The Alan Turing Institute will apply artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to large existing data sets on how people move through the departments of the hospital, recognising hurdles and downtime in how the hospital operates, which can then be tackled to improve efficiency and help patients get seen faster and more effectively.

Marcel Levi, UCLH chief executive, said: “With ever increasing numbers of patients and ongoing financial pressures, we need to try something different, something innovative, something longer-term. The partnership with the Alan Turing Institute provides an opportunity to work with the world’s leading data scientists to do just this. Imagine a scenario where patients present to A&E with abdomen pain – our standard response is to check bloods, order X-rays or scans and in probably about 80 per cent of cases, discharge for home management. What, if through analysis of thousands of similar scenarios, we were able to identify patterns in the initial presentation of the 20 per cent with serious conditions, such as intestinal perforation or severe infections? This could enable us to fast track them through to a scan and a swift diagnosis and could support clinical decision making to manage the 80 per cent who need no further clinical input more effectively. Machines will never replace doctors, but the use of data, expertise and technology can radically change how we manage our services – for the better.”