Two healthcare bodies in London have published a framework for the use of AI by the city’s five integrated care systems (ICSs).
It highlights the importance of an AI coordination and advisory lead for each ICS as critical to the delivery of solutions within the framework.
The document has been published by OneLondon, the programme team for the five ICSs in the capital, and the AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare, the consortium of NHS trusts in the south-east of the city.
It covers five key areas: on the principles for partnerships in deploying the technology; the infrastructure, data and information governance arrangements; use cases; the delivery approach for pilots, implementation and monitoring of AI in healthcare; and communication and workforce development.
It includes the recommendation that each integrated care board appoints an AI lead for their ICS, with responsibility to collate information from across their system on the status of AI projects and implementations, and to provide expert advice focusing on the mitigation of risks.
The role would include monitoring the progression of projects from pipeline through to business as usual and scaling across the ICS – and being ready to support decisions about when to cease at any of the stages.
It would also involve leading a community of practice for their system.
Taking time
Other guidelines include that partners should take extra time at some stages of the lifecycle of a project to establish processes that will work system-wide, that they consolidate their expertise, monitor AI products for specific use cases and be ready to provide advice to partners if issues arise.
In regard to data and infrastructure, the framework states that vendor hosted AI models are often the simplest and cheapest to use, but this may limit approaches to monitoring and that it needs careful consideration of the monitoring tools.
Information governance should involve the AI lead hosting a database of products and documentation on use cases, such as data protection impact assessments, and be ready to share them with counterparts as appropriate. This can lead to a collaborative discussion to achieve consistency.
The document’s conclusion adds that the regulation, legislation and guidance around the use of AI is an evolving field and that it will be updated from time to time.
Publication of the framework come soon after NHS Shared Business Services revealed plans for a procurement framework for AI in healthcare, and a survey by the Health Foundation showed widespread support among NHS staff the use of the technology.
