Majority of NHS staff support use of AI, finds the Health Foundation

More than three quarters of NHS staff (76%) support the use of AI to help with patient care, according to research commissioned by think tank the Health Foundation.

A survey of 1,292 NHS staff members and 7,200 members of the UK public aged 16 years and older, published on 31 July 2024, also found that 81% of NHS staff favoured the use of AI for administrative tasks.

The survey, conducted in June and July 2024, found that the public were less receptive to AI, with 54% supporting its use in patient care and 61% for administrative purposes.

It also identified a minority who are not supportive of the use of AI, with 18% of the public and 11% of NHS staff believing that it will make care quality worse.

People aged 16-24 are less likely to believe that AI will improve care quality compared to other age groups, and women are less likely to believe that AI will improve care quality compared to men.

The public raised concerns about the potential impact of AI on the accuracy of decision making, with nearly 30% fearing that healthcare staff could miss errors if they do not question the outputs of AI systems.

Also, 53% of the public surveyed think AI will make them feel more distant from healthcare staff and 65% of NHS staff think AI will make them feel more distant from patients.

Medical and dental staff were found to be more positive about the use of AI than other clinical staff such as healthcare assistants and healthcare support workers.

The publication of this survey follows the Health Foundation’s call for a dedicated strategy for AI in healthcare, published in June 2024, which set out six key priorities that must be addressed if the benefits of AI are to be realised.

Tim Horton, assistant director (insight and analysis) at the Health Foundation, said that although AI “is not a panacea”, it could play a “significant role in helping to ease NHS pressures and support the workforce”.

He added that a dedicated strategy is needed to capitalise on the potential of AI and that it needed to command the confidence of patients, the public and NHS staff.

“The Health Foundation’s research suggests the public and NHS staff, on balance, support the use of AI for clinical and administrative purposes.

“But some remain unconvinced, and so it’s crucial to engage people in a conversation about the future of healthcare – in order to understand and address their concerns.

“It’s clear the public want a human to remain ‘in the loop’ for many uses of AI in health care, and they want AI technologies to be designed and used in ways that protect the human dimension of care,” Horton said.

On 26 July 2026, Peter Kyle, science secretary announced the appointment of Matt Clifford, tech entrepreneur and chair of Advanced Research and Invention Agency, to lead work on an ‘action plan’ to identify how AI can drive economic growth and deliver better outcomes for people in the UK.