AI (Artificial Intelligence) Awards
It was a pleasure to be involved in the Accelerated Access Collaborative webinar for NHS England where six recipients of AI (artificial intelligence) awards presented their work and findings. Wendy facilitated two online panel discussions, the first around Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement and the second addressing health inequalities.
The event was hosted by Sandra Nwokeoha, from the AI team at NHS England, and kicked off with an introductory talk by Matt Whitty, Director of the Accelerated Access Collaborative at NHS England. This was followed by a talk on Equality and Health Inequalities Impact assessment (EHIA) by Nathalie Carter of the PPIE (Patient and Public involvement and Engagement) team, and keynote addresses by speakers from the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and the Ada Lovelace Institute. After which AI awardees from Oxford University & Articulate Pro, Healthy.io, Cogstack, Imperial College, WYSA and Skin Analytics made their case study presentations.
Improving Patient Involvement
The dedication of all the representative speakers in working to ensure voices of under-represented communities and groups are listened to was evident in all the presentations and subsequent conversations. The common consensus among all the participants was that for AI to bring better health outcomes to marginalised communities effectively, information had to be made fully accessible to address issues of mistrust, and to overcome lack of confidence in using new technologies. To ensure better awareness and uptake, language used needed to be made jargon-free and access to ‘real people’ provided alongside AI.
The discussions also highlighted the participants’ enthusiasm to act collaboratively to ensure best practice, common language and techniques could be shared with patients and the wider public. It was exciting to see so much great work being done to ensure all sections of society gain access to cutting edge healthcare.
Our many thanks to Sandra Nwokeoha of NHS England and Nathalie Carter for all their had work and involving WSA in this event.