The imperative to adopt advanced technologies is clear. In an era of rising demand and limited resources, embracing AI is not just a choice \u2014 it\u2019s a critical step for the NHS to deliver sustainable care.<\/p>\n
The NHS can learn from the financial services sector\u2019s focus on user experience, innovation, and its shift from one-way communication to interactive, user-centred dialogue. All of these are crucial to the financial sector due to high customer demands and volumes \u2013 which are also acutely present in healthcare.<\/p>\n
Automating user journeys to dynamically interact with customers 24\/7 \u2013 in any language, on any channel, at any time \u2013 ensures that accurate information can be accessed immediately and at the user\u2019s own convenience.<\/p>\n
With the ability to complete thousands of repetitive tasks and workflows simultaneously, AI automation reduces 60-80 per cent of repetitive inbound enquiries from public-facing teams. This saves staff precious time and increases capacity.<\/p>\n
Take Exinity, for example. This enterprise foreign exchange bank, is having great success using EBO\u2019s AI automation technology to process over 80,000 conversations a month across five languages (English, Farsi, Russian, Chinese and Arabic) around the clock.<\/p>\n
By adopting AI automation technology, Exinity aimed to automate 40 per cent of incoming requests within the first year, but impressively, surpassed this goal within just three months. Today, 50 per cent of all conversations are fully managed by AI, leading to greater efficiency, enhanced satisfaction, and reduced operational costs. This has also freed up service agents to focus on more value-driven tasks, further enriching the overall experience.<\/p>\n
In the context of healthcare, the same technology is empowering patients to have more visibility and control over their healthcare journey, improving the patient experience while reducing the administrative burden on healthcare providers.<\/p>\n
Saint James Hospital is setting a remarkable example of AI adoption within the private healthcare sector, significantly boosting productivity, enhancing patient experiences, and reducing staff workloads. With over a million appointments each year and a rapidly growing patient base, the hospital\u2019s patient services teams were struggling to manage appointment bookings, especially during peak hours. The increasing communication bottlenecks led to inefficiencies in workforce coordination.<\/p>\n
“The solutions now handles over 12,000 appointment bookings each month.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Through EBO\u2019s AI-powered Virtual Assistant (VA), the hospital has provided a two-way communication channel which is available on the hospital\u2019s website and via Facebook Messenger. The tool is the first use of AI by the hospital, which integrates directly with its hospital management system and EPR. Today, the VA interacts with patients and service users via two-way automated human-like conversation, answering questions 24\/7, and managing appointment bookings from start to finish. Patients can book, cancel or reschedule their appointments without the need for human intervention. Thanks to its AI context and sentiment awareness, the VA identifies customer\u2019s emotions and adjusts the dialogue accordingly.<\/p>\n
The results have been transformative. The solution now handles over 12,000 appointment bookings each month, with 93 per cent of interactions being completed end-to-end by the AI tool. At peak times, it absorbs 40 per cent of the call workload, allowing staff to focus on more complex tasks. Patient satisfaction has soared, with a 96 per cent approval rating\u2014demonstrating how AI can dramatically improve both operational efficiency and patient experience.<\/p>\n
Shifting from analogue to digital<\/h3>\n
Adopting AI automation isn\u2019t just about appealing to the \u2018modern\u2019 patient and being there 24\/7, on any device and available in any language. It\u2019s about making experiences patient-centric, increasing patients\u2019 access to healthcare and enabling patients to navigate their pathways easily and efficiently.<\/p>\n
Shifting patient engagement from an impersonal one-sided interaction to a patient-friendly, conversational, and inclusive model promotes a more accessible and natural way for patients to interact with their healthcare provider.\u00a0By automating\u00a0repetitive\u00a0administrative tasks and streamlining processes, AI automation technology makes patient journeys more convenient and engaging \u2013 enhancing choice and empowerment.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just about focusing on technology and moving from analogue to digital. Virtual Assistants are sophisticated enough to foster meaningful conversations and understand patient needs. Engaging patients through two-way conversations simplifies complex inaccessible processes into universally adaptable communication channels that cater to individual patient needs. It\u2019s about using data to turn the currently reactive processes into proactive and predictive models by using the volumes of data captured to forecast scenarious and outcomes in real-time.<\/p>\n
Nearly 20 NHS trusts and health boards across the UK are already using EBO\u2019s solutions and are seeing exceptional results helping to reduce workload, increase efficiency, and improve patient satisfaction.<\/p>\n
Time to work smarter, not harder<\/h3>\n
By adopting AI, we can create a more seamless and patient-centred experience. AI can help automate routine tasks, allowing patients to book appointments, access their health records, and manage their healthcare with ease. These innovations aren\u2019t just about efficiency, they\u2019re about making the NHS more accessible, responsive, and patient-centric.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to work smarter not harder to help the NHS reform and non-clinical AI innovations are going to be a key enabler. AI is the productivity tool the NHS is crying out for, and we have it in the palm of our hands. Now is the time to apply it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Healthcare systems can learn vital lessons from other sectors further along the AI implementation transition, writes James Neal, Chief Revenue Officer at EBO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":5724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,44,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-implementation","category-featured","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5727,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions\/5727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}