‘Vera’ can send patient requests directly to nursing and medical staff.
The tech-centric Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced the instruction of ‘Vera’, an Amazon Alexa style AI system that will allow patients to summon assistance and ask specific questions about their care.
Patients will be able to ask Vera questions like; “Can I have a commode?” and “Can I have some pain relief?” – the revolutionary system will then send a message directly to the relevant member of staff to act on the request.
Vera will also be able to answer a number of medical questions such as; “How are my blood results?”, “What time am I going to theatre?” and “Can I go home?”.
Future plans for the system include the ability to undertake medical clerking, nursing risk assessments and automatically dispense analgesia.
‘Eliminating the need for healthcare professionals’.
The news comes after it was revealed over 200,000 nurses have quit the NHS in the past ten years and The Topol Review recommended the NHS developed AI technology.
Dr Apil May, a spokesperson for The National Institute for Patient Technologies said; “Patients and staff often complain about staff levels. Vera aims to combat that.
“Messages will be sent to the healthcare professionals mobile access device so the right member of staff at the right time can respond.
“Vera has also been designed with direct access to patient medical records so will be able to answer the majority of patient queries.
“In the future, we predict the system could eliminate the need for healthcare professionals all-together”.
The new system will be introduced countrywide by April 1st 2019.