The UK's National Health Service (NHS) will launch its first digital therapist physiotherapy clinic before the end of this year. The clinic will operate on the Flok Health platform, approved for use by the health regulator. The Guardian writes about this. Patients will be able to contact Flok Health through the app, either directly or through their primary care physician. The digital doctor will answer the patient’s questions in real time and give recommendations.
The Flok Health platform was developed with the participation of medical specialist and former professional rower Finn Stevenson. More than 1,000 NHS workers have already received advice from the AI ​​physiotherapist, he said. These consultations, according to the doctors who received them, were at least as useful as a consultation with a regular physiotherapist. 57% of patients said that consultation with an AI doctor is even better.
The NHS hopes that this will significantly reduce waiting lists for physiotherapy services and reduce the burden on specialist doctors, who are currently in short supply in the UK healthcare system. Waiting lists for treatment of musculoskeletal conditions in the UK have increased by 27% since January 2023. And according to the NHS, the economy loses more than 30 million working days each year due to the problems associated with such diseases.
Meanwhile, not all British experts are confident that the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of medical care will be so effective. According to Ewan McComiskey, head of medical informatics at the Physiotherapy Society, “AI has great potential to become an assistant for physiotherapists.” “However, AI cannot yet simulate medical judgment and physiotherapist skills,” the expert says, adding that more research is needed, but “not at the expense of patient safety or trust.”