NHS England accelerates AI adoption with Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve service delivery, reduce costs and create more time for care
NHS England today announced that it is significantly accelerating AI adoption across healthcare services by providing 505,000 clinicians and support staff with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
By providing access to the AI-powered assistant, NHS workers will be able to streamline administrative processes, improving capacity across NHS England Trusts, reducing costs, and providing more time for patient care.
Copilot helps users create, analyse and get work done faster. NHS England anticipates that Copilot will be harnessed in multiple ways across all aspects of the healthcare service, including:
- Ward clerks: helping with patient discharge processes, service data analysis, rota building and bed management;
- Medical secretaries: helping with meeting minutes and creating templates for consistency;
- Core services: assisting HR, finance and procurement functions;
- Management: helping to draft Board papers, briefings, organisational analysis.
As part of the agreement, NHS organisations will also have access to Copilot Studio, enabling teams to build agents to automate and streamline workflows, reducing the time it takes to conduct research, analyse data, address HR-related enquiries or facilitate meetings.
NHS England will be able to build and deploy agents centrally, while individual Trusts will be able to build custom agents to solve Trust-specific challenges, such as reducing helpdesk burdens, accelerating complaints and freedom of information requests, or improving financial analysis and processing. Agent 365 will ensure that all agents built are fully secure and adhere to all organisational policies and rules.
“By rolling out Microsoft Copilot across the NHS, we can… free up clinicians’ time and help staff focus on what they do best – caring for patients“
The agreement follows the largest AI trial of its kind globally in healthcare, which provided more than 30,000 NHS workers across 90 NHS organisations with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot. It found that AI-powered administrative support could save on average 43 minutes per staff member per day, equating to 5 weeks of time per person annually. Results from the trial showed that a full roll-out of Microsoft 365 Copilot could save millions of hours every year.
Health Innovation and Safety Minister, Preet Kaur Gill, said: “Technology should support our NHS staff, not slow them down. Every day, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals spend valuable time on administrative tasks that take them away from patients.
“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.
“This government is putting innovation to work for patients: helping staff work more efficiently, improving productivity, and supporting a modern NHS that delivers better care, faster access to treatment, and better value for taxpayers.”
Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer at NHS England, said: “NHS England wants to embrace cutting-edge technology and this Microsoft partnership will mean staff can be freed from admin so they can focus on what they want to be doing – treating patients.
“Innovations like this will help drive NHS productivity so patients can get the treatment they need sooner and there is better value for taxpayers.
“The potential to save clinical staff nearly a day’s worth of admin time every fortnight could be a gamechanger for patients. We’re making sure every pound is spent on cutting waiting times and boosting care through the Plan for Change and 10 Year Health Plan.”
Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK & Ireland, commented: “By rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot at scale, NHS teams can cut through everyday admin and spend more time where it matters most.
“Bringing AI safely into the flow of healthcare will help ease pressures, improve productivity, and support better decision-making across the health service.
“We’re proud to work with NHS England to help tackle some of its biggest challenges and accelerate digital transformation for the benefit of staff and patients alike.”
The deployment will be supported by a robust 12-month onboarding plan, with a rapid scale-up of 200,000 users within the first six months. An extensive training and adoption programme will also ensure all NHS workers with access to Copilot and AI agents can take full advantage of the benefits they deliver.