The Royal College of Physicians recently released a new and comprehensive report on the digital infrastructure and use of AI in healthcare.
BCS President, Professor André Ng, said: “The British Cardiovascular Society welcomes the report on digital infrastructure and AI use in healthcare, published today by our colleagues at the RCP. Digital transformation lies at the heart of ensuring equitable healthcare for our patients, and is essential to the safe and ethical implementation of AI tools in the NHS. We agree with the findings of the report from the RCP that we are not there yet. It is encouraging to see an emphasis on useful digital transformation among the main recommendations of the report. The BCS looks forward to seeing how this situation develops moving forward, especially in the context of cardiovascular practice and the Modern Service Framework in CV disease.”
This is a topic of high interest for the BCS, as we are preparing our consensus document on AI, to be published in our journal Heart in the future.
Dr Rajiv Sankaranarayanan, Vice-President for Communications, Digital and Marketing added: “The opinion that digital transformation is necessary in order to adopt AI technologies more widely in the NHS, was shared by 70% of healthcare professionals the RCP surveyed. The BCS backs this recommendation, highlighting the need for a robust framework with governance, to back both digital transformation and the adoption of AI. At the heart of our upcoming consensus document on the topic, is the emphasis that cardiovascular healthcare delivery aided by AI needs to remain clinician-led, and patient-focussed, to help improve patient outcomes, enhance safety and strengthen healthcare system efficiency.”