It will take more than an AI tool to turn the NHS staffing crisis around
Suggesting that a blanket rollout of an ‘everyday AI’ platform will be enough to support the UK’s largest and most complex workforce feels, at best, unrealistic, writes Dr Anas Nader.
Just three years on from the previous government's Long Term Workforce Plan, and NHS staff are once again waiting to be told what the next decade of their careers will look like.
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Leaks suggest the new 10-Year Workforce Plan for the NHS will rip up many of the pledges made in 2023, rolling back on recruitment targets and banking instead on AI to reduce the need for new staff by ‘hundreds of thousands.’ But if innovation focuses on replacing, rather than empowering staff, this plan risks repeating the same mistakes we’ve seen before - just with shinier tech.
AI is revolutionising workplaces across every industry, and there is absolutely room for it to have a transformational impact on our NHS. But if we want innovation to bring genuine, lasting change, we must ensure that the technology we introduce is tailored to the unique pressures of clinical life.
Not a week goes by without a fresh headline about another new, highly specialised AI treatment tool for patients. But at the same time, the people working in our NHS are still relying on generic, fragmented, and often outdated tech to do their jobs. Last week, we were led to believe that the myriad everyday struggles faced by clinicians can be solved with 500,000 licences for Microsoft Copilot.
The intent may be there, but suggesting that a blanket rollout of an ‘everyday AI’ tool will be enough to support the UK’s largest and most complex workforce feels, at best, unrealistic. Every single ward in our NHS is home to a complex network of highly specialised teams. They deserve equally bespoke solutions.
This isn’t just about giving doctors shiny new toys. It has real consequences for everybody working in our health service. NHS staff are at ‘breaking point’: rigid staffing systems, inflexible working, and a cycle of stress and burnout have led to a situation that sees our health service hemorrhaging top talent.
The government is right in its assertion that arbitrary recruitment targets haven’t fixed this, but neither will vague commitments to replace headcount with AI. Whatever technology this plan promises to introduce, its primary purpose must be to improve working conditions and support staff, not ‘completely substitute’ them.
We have the finest clinical workforce in the world. They need technology that empowers them to do what they do best. Specialised tools that provide flexibility, reduce laborious admin, and give them real control over their own careers. While they might provide useful time savings here and there, chatbots alone cannot deliver the kind of change needed to convince more clinicians that their future lies within the NHS.
In my role at Patchwork Health, I’ve seen first-hand what happens when NHS Trusts equip their staff with bespoke, targeted technology. Hospitals up and down the country are using our AI-powered staffing solutions to deliver a fairer, more flexible, and more efficient approach to workforce management. But this shouldn’t be the exception; it should be the standard.
With that in mind, the 10 Year Workforce Plan must be centred on autonomy, not just automation. The technology that it introduces must be targeted at giving clinicians real control, flexibility, and a genuine sense that we are making their lives easier, not harder.
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Dr Anas Nader is a former NHS doctor, co-founder and CEO at Patchwork Health
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