NHS Lothian launches AI physiotherapy clinic pilot for patients
- 3 January 2025
- NHS Lothian in Scotland has made an AI-powered physiotherapy clinic available to nearly one million patients across the Lothian region as part of a large-scale pilot
- The AI clinic, called Flok Health, was created using video footage of a human physiotherapist and is able to offer patients personalised treatment at population scale
- During recent NHS trials of Flok Health, 100% of patients said their experience with the AI physiotherapist had been “better” or “the same as” what they’d expect from a human physiotherapist
NHS Lothian in Scotland has made an AI-powered physiotherapy clinic available to nearly one million patients across the Lothian region as part of a large-scale pilot.
The AI clinic, called Flok Health, was created using video footage of a human physiotherapist. It is able to offer patients personalised treatment at population scale, in a setting which feels like a structured responsive video call with a physiotherapist.
It has been created by a team of physiotherapy and AI experts in Cambridge and is the first digital musculoskeletal (MSK) clinic to have been approved by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
This large-scale pilot follows a series of successful early trials of the technology in 2023. During recent NHS trials of Flok Health, 100% of patients said their experience with the AI physiotherapist had been “better” or “the same as” what they’d expect from a human physiotherapist.
More than four in five patients (86%) reported that their symptoms had improved during treatment with Flok.
Phil Ackerman, consultant MSK physiotherapist at NHS Lothian, said: “AI-enabled services such as Flok have the potential to improve the patient journey for some people with back pain through providing rapid, flexible access to care.
“It also offers an alternative management option for those who prefer a digital approach. Working in partnership on this pilot with Flok and Health Innovation Hub, South East Scotland, offers an outstanding and unique opportunity to explore how Flok’s digital back pain service can be integrated within our range of healthcare services.”
The NHS Lothian pilot means anyone registered with one of the 126 GP practices within NHS Lothian can now self-refer directly to Flok’s digital MSK clinic via existing self-referral portals or can be referred by participating GP practices.
Using the technology, they will be able to access a physiotherapy appointment via the Flok app that same day.
The service also has significant data integrations and sharing with other NHS services in the region to ensure joined up care for patients and clinicians, and the ability to produce robust multi-faceted analysis of the clinical and cost impacts of deploying the AI service.
It manages patients on behalf of the NHS from initial presentation and assessment through to treatment delivery and discharge and records all interactions and outcomes on an electronic health record.
Finn Stevenson, co-founder and chief executive of Flok Health, said: “We’ve been thrilled to see the positive impact our AI physiotherapy clinic had during our initial trials with our NHS partners and it’s hugely rewarding to see this service now delivering gold-standard care to patients across Edinburgh and the surrounding region.”
The clinic has been deployed as a collaboration between NHS Lothian, Flok Health, and the Health Innovation South East Scotland (HISES) Hub.
It is currently available to assess and treat patients across the Lothian region for back pain, with plans to later extend the service to provide care for additional musculoskeletal conditions at population scale.
