Trust leads the way in artificial intelligence to improve the patient experience

Hundreds of business leaders and technology experts from across the UK heard how University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the patient experience when Professor Andy Hardy, our Chief Executive Officer, spoke at a major IBM event.

Prof Hardy explained how an innovative project with the tech giant had helped to significantly reduce the number of missed appointments at University Hospital, Coventry.

Using process mining techniques and IBM’s Watsonx AI platform, the Trust made simple changes to the timing of SMS messages sent to patients to remind them about their upcoming Outpatient appointments.

Switching reminder texts from four days to 14 days before their appointment, the Trust was able to significantly reduce the number of patients who did not attend their appointment or cancelled at the last minute and then reallocate the slots to 700 other patients.

This was one of the benefits of AI that Prof Hardy highlighted during a fireside chat with Kareem Yusuf, IBM’s Senior Vice President for Product Management & Growth, and Rahul Kalia, Managing Partner, UK and Ireland, IBM Consulting.

More than 900 people attended Think London, IBM's annual meeting event in London, at which they shared, debated and learned about the challenges of technological innovation and the impact of AI on business transformation.

During the event, Professor Hardy was interviewed by Times Radio (below) about the Trust’s collaboration with IBM Consulting.

Last year, we had about 100,000 DNAs (‘did not attends’) - appointment slots that were not filled because patients didn’t turn up or cancelled at the last minute, so we couldn’t rebook them,” said Professor Hardy.

“We were sending out SMS reminders about four days before. We did some testing with data processing and we now text 14 days before because, by then, people have either forgotten or they know whether it would affect their work or they can’t get family cover, so they cancel then. That gives us time to rebook in.”

Listeners heard that if similar success was to be scaled up across the entire NHS, it could open up many more appointments and save money.

“The modelling suggests that you could make a real dent in what is a massive waiting list by 10% to 15% of that waiting list and that then equates to pounds and pence, “added Professor Hardy. “But more importantly, it’s about freeing up slots so people can actually be treated.”

The pilot project with IBM Consulting is part of UHCW NHS Trust’s broader innovation initiative, UHCWi, which focuses on making continuous improvements that put patients first and empowers staff to eliminate waste within their processes and deliver safer care.

Find out more about the Think London event here