Artificial intelligence will now triage patients on the NHS app, directing them to the most appropriate service after they describe their symptoms, the government has announced.
The tool is designed to assess a patient’s condition and determine whether a GP appointment is needed or whether they should be advised to visit a pharmacy or attend A&E instead, depending on severity. Over the next year the update is expected to reach around 200,000 patients, with full availability to all NHS App users by April 2028.
The move fulfils a central Labour manifesto promise from the 2024 general election to end the so-called 8am scramble for same-day GP appointments. Ministers have said they want the NHS App to become the default “front door” to the health service by 2028, with online consultation tools embedded directly into it.
A pilot of the AI triage system delivered measurable results. A trial at Wealden Ridge Medical Partnership, which operates surgeries across Sussex, recorded a 29% reduction in the number of patients queuing on phone lines for a GP appointment, according to the government.
The technology is not entirely new. An AI triage tool called Rapid Health’s Smart Triage has been running on GP websites since 2023 and has now been integrated into the NHS App, allowing more than a million patients to book appointments directly. It uses a five-tier urgency system — Black, Red, Amber, Yellow, Green — to categorise patient needs and aims to eliminate the 8am scramble through real-time triage and instant booking.
Broader AI investment across the NHS
The triage rollout is part of a £10bn government funding package intended to overhaul technology, data and digital systems within the health service. Officials said this would also include the use of AI to record patient consultations, reducing the time clinicians spend on note-taking. A trial led by Great Ormond Street Hospital across nine sites in London found that staff spent 25% more time interacting with patients when using the AI notetaking tool.
Separately, a trial at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust using Microsoft Dragon Copilot found it could save clinicians three to five minutes per patient, potentially allowing for an extra patient to be seen each morning. Other AI notetaking tools, such as Lyrebird, are also being piloted.
The £10bn package is not the only recent investment. In November 2025, £300m in capital investment was announced for NHS technology to improve productivity and reduce waiting lists. The Spring Budget 2024 allocated £3.4bn over three years for NHS technology and transformation.
The health secretary, James Murray, said he was “certain” that new technological advances would “get patients to the right care faster, free our brilliant clinicians from mountains of paperwork, and help drive down waiting times”.
Expert concerns over strategy and safeguards
Despite the government’s optimism, health leaders have raised significant concerns about the speed and direction of AI adoption, warning that a broader long-term strategy is needed. They pointed to limited evidence about the productivity improvements AI can offer, potential risks to patient privacy, and the danger that people less confident with technology could be left behind.
Lynn Woolsey, chief nursing officer at the Royal College of Nursing, described the app rollout as “an important step in upgrading technology in the NHS” but added there were “warnings to heed, with growing concerns about overstated, overly optimistic assessments of the productivity benefits from AI”. She cautioned: “We cannot have situations where it increases bureaucracy through the need to correct flawed or inaccurate work. Patients must be reassured that any new systems handling their information, such as ambient voice technology, are accurate and properly protect confidentiality.”
Tim Horton, deputy director of policy at the Health Foundation, said the announcement was a “positive recognition of the sustained investment needed to transform the NHS into a 21st-century service” but stressed it was “critical that these plans are part of a broader blueprint for reshaping how care is delivered”. He added: “The missing piece in the transformation puzzle is a broader long-term strategy for guiding the use of AI across the health system, where important questions remain about the approaches and safeguards needed, and how more organisations can be supported to benefit from AI. Without this, the NHS risks piecemeal adoption of AI, struggling to achieve benefits at scale.”
Ciarán Devane, chief executive of the NHS Alliance, focused on the practical challenge of translating the £10bn investment into local delivery. “There should be a general principle of maximising the discretion of local leaders to invest in the technologies and solutions that make most sense for their local populations and communities,” he said. “Heath leaders need clarity too on which elements will be mandatory for adoption and what expectations will be placed on organisations. It is vital that this funding is not whittled away as we have seen all-too-often in the past when the squeeze for savings has landed on NHS capital budgets. That would be a very damaging, false economy.”
Pritesh Mistry, a fellow at the healthcare charity The King’s Fund, said the real test for patients would be whether the investments made care “feel more joined up, more convenient and more empowering”. He added: “People should find it easier to have support at the right time and in a way that best suits them, digitally or physically. And this means the NHS will need to keep a strong focus on ensuring that people are not digitally excluded as clinical services become increasingly reliant on technology.”
The British Medical Association has also expressed concerns about the speed of the AI rollout and what it described as existing regulatory gaps. Meanwhile, the Royal College of Physicians noted that 68% of UK physicians believe the NHS lacks the digital infrastructure to introduce AI effectively, and highlighted the need for workforce training in digital and AI skills.
Underpinning many of the warnings is a recognition that AI should support, not replace, clinical judgment. There is also unease about the rigidity of current funding models, with a split between capital and revenue budgets that hinders agile digital transformation. Devane warned that if the new investment is repeatedly raided for short-term savings, the ambition of a modernised NHS could evaporate. “That would be a very damaging, false economy,” he said.