Home Featured Tony Blair’s NHS dream? Fewer GPs, more chatbots.
Tony Blair’s NHS dream? Fewer GPs, more chatbots.

Tony Blair’s NHS dream? Fewer GPs, more chatbots.

by host

The report received input from an employee in Oracle’s health division, and other health tech companies.

Health campaigners say the proposals would preference GP “chains” run by private companies.

“On substance, Blair wants Labour to close your GP and have you talk to a chatbot instead,” said Sam Smith at Medconfidential, an organization that campaigns on issues related to health data.

“’Far fewer groups of primary-care practices’ likely needing to be run by larger healthcare corporations … will translate into fewer GPs,” said Diarmaid McDonald, director of Just Treatment, an organization that campaigns against NHS privatization.

“Rather than seeking to cut costs using wholly unproven and overhyped AI tools that seem designed to further open up the NHS to large corporate profiteers, patients want to see the investment in the health service that would mean they can see a GP — a human that knows them, and has time to listen, when they need help.”

The TBI did not respond directly to questions relating to the leaked report, but instead pointed to a supporter of its work currently working within the NHS.

Fiona Edwards, CEO of Frimley Integrated Care Board and chair of the Thames Valley and Surrey Partnership Board which manages  the care record and population health system for citizens said: “We spent over five years building our data and population health platforms and they are fully embedded in many of our care pathways. We are seeing substantial patient and organizational benefits from data driven initiatives and they are at the heart of our transformation programs. 

“It is obvious we need to build from what we have rather than starting again with a new national scheme and the expanded uses detailed in the TBI report are natural and much needed extensions to the work we are doing.”

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