Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) has entered into a new agreement with tech provider C2-Ai to expand its waiting list initiative across all nine acute trusts in the region. The AI-backed decision support model, initially implemented at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, identifies high-risk patients on waiting lists and suggests specific actions for clinicians to take. This technology revolutionizes the prioritization of patients, providing healthcare professionals with valuable intelligence to improve patient outcomes, reduce A&E admissions, save time, and decrease average hospital stays.
The use of AI in managing waiting lists has the potential to bring about significant changes in how the NHS operates, according to Professor Rowan Pritchard-Jones, medical director for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside. As healthcare resources become increasingly strained, it is crucial to efficiently identify and address the needs of those most at risk. The technology has already been successfully implemented by pioneering teams, and efforts will be made to ensure that others have the opportunity to embrace these tools.
Moving forward, the technology will be expanded to include nine acute trusts in the Cheshire and Merseyside region. By analyzing patient information and calculating their individual clinical risks as data evolves, the system provides surgical teams with priority scores and insights on the most effective treatment options. It can also indicate necessary prehabilitation support to prevent deterioration while patients wait. The early adoption of the “waiting well” pre-habilitation program has yielded positive results, such as a significant reduction in ICU needs for high-risk patients and a decrease in emergency admissions. The success of this clinically-led AI model has garnered attention internationally and is now being replicated by other NHS trusts across the country.