Health technology AI leader, Clinithink, has signed a five-year contract with software provider The Access Group (Access), which is set to improve patient care, relieve workloads for stretched clinicians and deliver significant savings to NHS trusts.
Using the world’s first AI which can understand unstructured medical notes and working with East London NHS Foundation Trust in a pilot phase, the Access Rio Patient Insight software is projected to save upwards of £840,000 of a trust’s operational costs per year. This includes an estimated 1% reduction in admissions, equating on average of £425,000 and an additional £192,000 drug cost savings. It also includes a 25% reduction in follow-up appointments – resulting in shorter waiting times for patients.
The new software harnesses Clinithink’s CLiX unlock technology to provide clinicians with a clear timeline summary of relevant patient information, such as medication and risks, on one screen, without needing to read through extensive progress notes, which can run to hundreds of pages. The AI solves this problem by rapidly reading and understanding the rich, narrative content in the entire record, saving valuable time and giving doctors easy access to the information they need.
Clinithink’s Clinical Natural Language Processing (CNLP) solution, CLiX ® extracts valuable data from the lengthy, unstructured patient notes. This is often the part of the file that contains the most valuable clinical patient information. The software then turns the data into insights for the doctor to action. It also identifies the most appropriate ‘SNOMED CT’ code – a clinical vocabulary used in electronic health records – saving further time.
The technology will lead to better information sharing among clinicians, improved patient safety and more accurate prescribing – reducing the number of ‘care episodes’. It will also free up thousands of hours of clinician time, when rising workloads and staff shortages are placing health care professionals under greater pressure.
Access, which provides software including electronic patient records for around 60 of the UK’s community mental health trusts, launched the system in April.
Clinithink and Access first introduced the AI technology in 2020, as part of a pilot project at one of the UK’s largest mental health providers, East London Foundation Trust (ELFT). As part of its ongoing development, the software is now being trialled at other large mental health providers.
Chris Tackaberry, co-founder and CEO at Clinithink said: “This is an exciting partnership, which will deliver significant benefits to patients, clinicians and NHS trusts across the UK at a time when resources are undeniably stretched. By placing the patient at the centre of an integrated service and gaining an up-to-date, single view of an individual’s healthcare, we can start to deliver a truly joined-up health service.
“Harnessing and understanding unstructured medical data creates enormous opportunities to transform a patient’s care, while also saving clinicians’ valuable time and reducing NHS costs.”
Lee Meredith, head of product in health at The Access Group said: “At The Access Group, we are proud to be partnering with Clinithink to bring this ground-breaking AI technology to healthcare providers. The Access Rio EPR platform will be significantly enhanced with the Patient Insight module, powered by Clinithink’s CLiX software, and has the potential to revolutionise the way clinicians access and use patient data, providing them with actionable insights from unstructured medical notes in a fraction of the time it would take to read through them manually. By streamlining this process, clinicians can save valuable time and focus on delivering better patient care, while healthcare providers can benefit from reduced operational costs, improved patient safety, and more accurate prescribing. The Patient Insight module is fully integrated with the Rio EPR solution providing a seamless interface for the user. We are excited to see the positive impact this technology will have on our customers and the wider healthcare industry.”
