The Artificial Intelligence is making a strong entrance into the National Health System with the launch of the Digital Physician Assistant and the upcoming Digital Citizen Assistant.

The former, integrated into the National Electronic Health Record, offers doctorsimmediate and secure access to patients’ medical data through the myHealthDoc platform, facilitating decision-making and reducing bureaucracy. The second will allow every citizen to have a personalized and secure access to their data on their mobile phone.

With these steps, the NHS is entering a new era of digital and human-centered health, Marios Themistokleous, the Deputy Minister of Health, Marios Themistokleous, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

Artificial Intelligence in the NHS, people at the heart

How ready is the NHS to monitor and respond to new technological challenges? What does digitisation of health care mean? Questions we all hear often and read even more. Mr Themistocleous answers:

“I start my thought, a little unstructured perhaps, by concluding: Health care in Greece is definitely entering a new era. An era where technology does not operate in isolation and the NHS in isolation. For technology is not to operate in competition with man, but to serve him.

The launch of the Digital Physician Assistant on the National Electronic Health Record marks the first practical application of AI in the National Health Service. At the same time, it paves the way for more humane public care. Faster. More accurate. More efficient.

The new digital assistant is the result of a fruitful and effective collaboration between the Ministries of Health and Digital Governance. Through HICC, we have created an innovative tool that offers doctors immediate, complete and secure access to patient data through the myHealthDoc platform.

Using AI, the doctor can see the patient’s complete picture in seconds, refer to medications, tests or diagnoses and make decisions based on accurate data.

Healthcare staff can “talk” to the Digital Assistant with simple questions about the patient: “What medications were administered in the last three months?”, “What vaccinations have been given?”, “Show me the patient’s concise medical picture”, since it even supports voice command. The Digital Assistant does not replace the healthcare professional. It frees him from bureaucracy, gives him time for the person he is facing.

It is the first AI application to be used en masse in the NHS. The doctor doesn’t waste time on the screen; he gets the information quickly and devotes himself to the patient. The technology does not alienate but makes room for human contact.

This new functionality is part of an overall digital transformation strategy for the NHS. The aim is a smart, connected and people-centred health system where technology acts as an ally, not an adversary.”

The Digital Citizen Assistant for Health is coming

As Themistocleous stresses to APE-MPE, “already, at the Ministry of Health we are preparing to activate the Digital Citizen Assistant for Health, which will offer citizens personalized and secure access to their data, prescriptions, appointments, preventive examinations and vaccinations. Through a simple, friendly interface, every citizen will have the whole picture of their health on their mobile phone, with notifications, reminders, and updates.”

Data security

“AI offers analysis of vast amounts of data, reduces the risk of errors, enhances diagnostic accuracy, and improves care coordination. Decisions are made faster, service is more responsive and the overall patient experience is enhanced. At the same time, the data collected creates a new foundation for making public health policies based on evidence rather than assumptions.

This is why the Ministry of Health places particular emphasis on data security, transparency of procedures and training of health professionals in the use of new tools,” the Deputy Minister of Health notes, concluding:

“Digital health is not the future. It is the present that is already being implemented. I close with something I like to emphasise, that the digital transformation of the NHS is not a technological change, it is primarily a cultural change. That is, we are not building a more mechanical system. We are building a more human one. And in this effort, the use of modern technology is the critical enabler to strengthen people’s trust in the health system. Most importantly, to make our service, and their lives, better.”