More than a million hours have been saved through the use of automation and artificial intelligence on areas like finance and administration in the Irish health service over the past five years, the Health Service Executive has said.
On Wednesday, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill launched Ireland’s first national strategy for the use of AI in the health and social care systems, stating it provides a “rare opportunity to reshape how care is delivered”.
Carroll MacNeill said the technology would not be used as an “alternative” for a clinician but instead would be “a wingman sitting beside you saying to look at this”.
The Minister added that it was important to ensure intelligent technology is used in a “safe, trusted and people-centred way” so patients can be reassured their care “isn’t being outsourced to a computer”.
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Damien McCallion, chief technology and transformation officer at the HSE, said between 2020 and 2025 significant time savings were made in administrative and clerical areas. This year, he said, the organisation was seeking to “save another half a million hours”.
“They’re across areas like HR, finance, clinical administrative areas, waiting-list management, where we have people tied up, doing things we don’t need them to do,” he said.
According to the strategy, AI will allow patients to receive faster diagnoses by helping radiologists read X-rays, CT scans and MRIs quicker to detect strokes, cancers and fractures at an earlier stage.
AI will also be used to support the discharge of patients, which should help reduce delays, and it should also reduce administrative burden, with AI transcribing tools cutting down documentation time by up to 40 per cent, allowing clinicians to spend more time with patients.
Prof Peter McMahon, a consultant radiologist at the Mater hospital, who has led the introduction of AI in the hospital, said the technology “allows clinicians to focus on what matters”.
“What we do as clinicians is exclude disease and that can take time. And you could argue it’s wasteful time if we should be spending more time on what’s there,” he said.
“It can focus our attention to what matters So what scans matter, what parts of the scan matter, and it helps us especially when they’re tired, especially when they’re under stress.”
McMahon said studies have shown for the detection of breast cancer, for example, AI has resulted in a 44 per cent reduction in the time needed to look at studies and detect disease.
According to the Department of Health, the strategy is “grounded in strong legal and regulatory foundation”, including by forthcoming guidance from the Health Information and Quality Authority on the safe use of AI, as well as European legislation governing its use.
