BARNSLEY’S Tech Town status took another big step this week after plans were announced to cut hospital waiting lists and offer better and more efficient care to patients.

People in Barnsley set to benefit from shorter hospital waiting lists and fewer missed appointments under a new pilot scheme being trialled.

Residents and local firms will also have the chance to gain AI skills thanks to a new £800,000 government fund.

The two pilots will demonstrate how AI can support both local workers and frontline services, building a blueprint that can be used by communities across the country.

From April, Cisco will work with the local community to scope out a ‘Healthcare Living Lab’ in Barnsley as part of the Lister Alliance innovation collaboration.

By freeing up NHS staff so they can spend more time on patient care, the intention is to provide local residents with more time with clinical staff, reduced missed appointments and shorter waiting lists.

Dr Joe Culshaw, paediatric consultant at Barnsley Hospital, says the introduction of AI has and will help staff deliver better care to patients.

He told the Chronicle: “There’s two main ways I look at it - there’s the processes in the background and then there’s the direct patient experience as well.

“So we are piloting something called ambient voice technology at the moment where an AI tool listens to our consultations and summarises it for us at the end - that increases our patient facing time.

“So in a 15 minute appointment, for example, for my general paediatric follow up patients, ten minutes of that is patient facing, then five minutes of that is documenting the consultation after.

“If that five minutes can be reduced down to two minutes of proof reading, then it increases the amount of time I have with the patient and then I can see more patients which cuts down waiting times.”

Jamie Miles, chief innovation, improvement and AI officer, said the rollout will help with smoother transitions - ultimately allowing patients to be seen quicker.

He added: “It’s not going to be very obvious or apparent to residents and patients because it’ll be working in the background.

“But what they will notice is an improvement in service.

“They’ll be seen quicker.

“They’ll get actions quicker.

“What we’re also doing is looking at writing letters to patients in their own language.

“So at the moment, once you’ve finished your journey with the hospital, you’ll get a letter that’s really addressed to the GP and it contains medical terms.

“So what I want to do is use AI to translate the really important clinical terms that Joe writes into patient-friendly language.”

Director of IT Tom Davidson admits the Tech Town status is helping boost the hospital’s AI work.

He said: “I see Tech Town as a huge opportunity, not just bringing international players into Barnsley, but genuinely driving the skills and capabilities of people within Barnsley up.

“We do things like predicting modelling and forecasting so we know when we’re going to get spikes in the emergency department.

“If we know when we get spikes, we can make sure we’ve got the right people there to look after them. rather than getting these long delays.

“Ultimately, there is so much AI can help with in this organisation to really improve care and treatment for our patients.”

Minister for AI and Online Safety, MP Kanishka Narayan, told the Chronicle that Barnsley isn’t just a town on the up - it’s at the top of the list.

He added: “We’ve been really excited to partner with Barnsley - it’s a town with a huge aspiration to be the leading digital town by 2030 and we’re supporting them to accelerate that.

“I really focus on outcomes.

“This is about putting more pounds in people's pockets because they have the right skills to get good jobs that pay well.

“And it's about making sure that people can get the health care they need when they need it.

“Barnsley is leading the way and we want to make sure that the example of Barnsley putting technology and AI in the service of people in that community is an example that we spread right across the country.

“It's not just on the up, it's top of the list.”