Provide CIC

Research solution

Provide partnered with Essex academics for their world-leading research and expertise in data science. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) was established to improve the efficiency of the triaging process by creating a decision-making engine, powered by AI and Natural Language Processing, which could identify the type of service patients needed and then guide them to the required level of support.

The project also involved academics from the Department of Psychology at Essex, who offered a deeper understanding of potential barriers to the use of new technology, helping to encourage clinicians to trust and embrace it as an effective tool to improve service delivery.

Business value

As part of the partnership, the AI Triage software – the Smart Referral System – has been developed and implemented for automated triaging of patients with musculoskeletal conditions.

The newly developed AI tool has been a huge success, reducing delays in information gathering and the number of incomplete referrals, easing triage time, increasing flexibility, providing new functionalities for risk assessment and sign-posting, offering a symptom checker, and providing low-risk patients with self-help options.

The wider impact of this software on the NHS could be significant, as it could eventually be rolled out to many other services and areas.

In addition to the KTP, the project team also worked on a Bed Bureau app, an idea born during the pandemic. Hospital bed management was already a challenge even before it was exacerbated by Covid-19. The Bed Bureau app has a live dashboard displaying bed availability in red (fully booked), amber (up to 50% available), and green (over 50% available).

See why Dr Dheeraj Rathee won Best Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate at our KTP Award Ceremony 2021

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