The NHS is constantly evolving, and as it does, it is faced with multiple challenges and opportunities. These include caring for an aging population, managing lengthy waiting lists and workforce pressures. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (2023) highlights the need to reform the workforce through different ways of working to provide more effective and efficient patient care.
Ufonia, a medical technology company, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) product which can support the workforce to work differently. The telemedicine product called Dora is programmed to undertake routine telephone calls with patients. It is designed to make care more convenient, reliable and consistent, and increase hospital capacity by releasing clinicians to spend more time meeting patients’ needs. Dora has effectively and safely conducted more than 60,000 NHS appointments and demonstrated potential to improve patient outcomes, streamline care delivery and ease the strain on hospital resources. Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley (HIOTV) has supported the development of Dora since 2018.
HIOTV is a co-applicant on a two-year government-backed research grant funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Invention for Innovation. Public and patient involvement will be led by HIOTV.
This grant will facilitate the development of a multilingual Dora, initially in ten different languages. It will be tested in the cataract pathway at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, to ensure it maintains high safety standards.