Fewer forms and faster treatment: How AI could help Nottingham’s struggling public services

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On Monday (January 13), Sir Keir Starmer said the use of Artificial Intelligence would be rolled out across public services, including in schools and in the NHS

By George Palmer-Soady

Nottinghamshire teachers, tech experts and NHS leaders say a planned national roll-out of AI will help schools, hospitals and businesses by cutting down time-consuming paperwork and solving complex problems.

On Monday (January 13), Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the use of AI – Artificial Intelligence – would be rolled out across public services, including in schools and the NHS.

During a speech in London Sir Keir said AI will help councils spot potholes, create lesson plans for schoolteachers, reduce job centre form-filling, and almost halve the time social workers spend on paperwork.

AI – new computer technology which enables software to learn and solve problems like humans – is already being used in some NHS hospitals and clinics across the UK.

It has helped doctors diagnose some cancers by spotting patterns and markers in test results more quickly, and complete admin tasks.

In daily life, the technology is being used on our phones in the answers given by voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa. It is also used by social media companies, such as Twitter and Facebook, to decide which posts to show users.

Millions of people have also begun using applications such as Chat GPT, which can do things like write summaries of documents, sort data and even create images pictures from scratch in seconds by following a human user’s written instructions.

Sian Hampton, the chief executive of Archway Learning Trust, says she supports the further usage of AI in schools, saying it will help staff and pupils by reducing time spent on admin work – leading to more face-to-face learning.

The trust runs 11 schools – including Church of England academies and a free school – across the East Midlands. These include the Bluecoat schools in Aspley, Beechdale, and Wollaton in Nottingham.

The trust has already begun to introduce AI into elements of its teaching, including transcribing meetings and creating lesson plans.

Sian Hampton, the chief exec of Archway Learning Trust, says AI in schools will benefit both staff and pupils by cutting down the time spent on admin work and providing more face-to-face learning (Image: Eden PR)

Ms Hampton said of the new plans: “I suspect we’re using a lot more than we realise and I think it could be a real game-changer.

“Especially for those subjects where there’s a lot of heavy marking and essays that need to be read through. I’ve got lots of staff that spend an hour or two marking in the evening.

“If we can make that assessment time more valuable for staff and students, that will benefit everybody.”

Ms Hampton – who is retiring after 21 years as chief executive of the trust – added while she backed the plans, schools will need to be supported in implementing AI.

“It could do with some leadership at a national level. What you don’t want to do is to have every school in the land trying to reinvent the wheel,” Ms Hampton.

“We could do with some Government intervention to help and support us. Not everyone works on a really large map that’s got the capacity or the talent pool to do lots of work in this area.

“But I genuinely believe if we can harness the best of AI, we can be much more efficient.”

The Labour Government says its AI Opportunities Action Plan is backed by leading tech firms. Several ‘AI Growth Zones’ around the UK will be created, involving big building projects and new jobs.

Dr Faisal Sheikh, is a Principal Lecturer at the Nottingham Business School, part of Nottingham Trent University.

An expert in AI, he said new plans will help cut out ‘routine’ work, making life easier for public sector workers.

“AI identifies the routine tasks we all do and has the power to spot the way all of us humans think,” he said.

“Whether that’s shifting pieces of paper or form-filling in health, AI is the solution to saving time. This will also have an impact on education. We have marking, planning and timetabling.

“These are tasks that we have to do day-in, day-out in our lifecycle. There is the potential there to use AI and model our actions and detect our patterns.

“When you go shopping at Tesco and you scan your Clubcard, they are collecting your data and creating a profile. They are spotting your behaviour and patterns and based on that, they will give you suggestions and predictions.”

Dr Faisal added while the new plans will benefit the public sector, AI cannot replace much of the work humans do, and that the two need to be linked.

“It’s all about the context – It’s not just about buying something off a shelf. There are additional costs and we still need the humans to work.

“But where it will add value is in the heavy lifting. I’ll be able to sit back while AI does the number-crunching.”

Andy Callow is Chief Digital and Transformation Officer at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital in Nottingham.

He added: “AI is a powerful tool and its potential benefits to the NHS are significant in terms of securing the best outcomes for our patients while being as efficient as possible in the running of the Trust, and providing best value for money.

“AI is being incorporated into some of the software tools we already use, which we expect to continue as those tools are upgraded, and it features in clinical trials plus research and innovation pilots across the trust.

“We also use AI to support our staff in speeding up and processing images and interpreting scans, although we do not use AI alone – each image is reviewed by a healthcare professional.”

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