First NHS AI-run physio clinic in England halves back-pain waiting list

theguardian.com

3 pointsNomDePlum4 comments

Interesting real life application of AI. I do worry reading the article that measures of success appear to be based on reduced waiting time and not patient outcomes.

Similarly, that this appears to be as an alternative to hiring available trained professionals looks more like a cost cutting exercise, but I may just be a cynic.

I don't think this take is just cynicism. The AI is doing triage and directing people into care paths. As long as there is "something isn't right break the path and get a human" options, I think I'd be fine.

Cutting cost might mean allowing expensive staff to do the thing after triage and so it might really be replacing some time burden.

Agree and I'd be more inclined to be less cynical if the primary measure was patient outcomes.

Measuring waiting list time is a secondary (but important) measure. Just not the one to ultimately optimise for.

NHS Physio is pretty terrible, it's mostly aimed at recovering to functional movement, but not previous capability. If you injure yourself in sports or similar and aim to get back to how you were before injury then it's really not where you want to go, private is basically your only option.

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