By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LONDON (Worthy News) – Britain has unveiled a controversial plan that will, in many cases, replace human doctors with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The government seeks to transform the National Health Service (NHS) into a fully AI-powered digital system within 10 years.
At the heart of the plan is a revamped application, the “NHS App”, for mobile devices such as cellphones which will be an AI-run personal health coach.
“It’s like having a doctor in your pocket,” explained British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “Healthcare, anytime, anywhere.”
The government pledged that by 2028, every patient in the nation would be guaranteed same-day general practitioner (GP) consultations through the app.
It includes AI-driven triage, instant appointment booking, and integrated access to health records, prescriptions, and referrals.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the plan would also mark a new era of “proactive care.”
WEARABLE DEVICES
Using a combination of AI, wearable devices, and genomic testing, the system will detect illness before it begins, generating personal risk scores and nudging users to healthier behavior.
“This shift,” Streeting argues, “is essential “in tackling chronic diseases like cancer, heart conditions, and diabetes before they become fatal.
“Rather than waiting for illness to strike,” he wrote, “we’ll see it coming. We’ll move from treating disease to preventing it.”
The move mirrors global trends in high-income nations that are increasingly relying on the digitization of healthcare.
However, analysts say Britain is perhaps the most centralized and ambitious of them, aiming “to remake an entire national health service—one that serves over 60 million people—around AI.”
Not everyone is pleased. While the plan promises easy “universal access” to health care, experts warn it risks deepening inequality. Tech-savvy patients who can navigate “apps” will benefit from same-day care.
Those who can’t — particularly the elderly, disabled, or economically disadvantaged — may be left behind, critics warn.
DIGITAL LITERATE
“This could create a ‘priority NHS’ for the digitally literate,” added Steve Brine, a former health committee chair examining policies. “We must avoid a two-tier system.”
Vivienne Francis, from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, echoed these concerns, urging the government to ensure the app and related systems are fully accessible to patients with disabilities.
The plan proposes a Single Patient Record, integrating clinical, genomic, and wearable device data—a vast and intimate health profile for each person. Ethics experts argue that this, combined with real-time data tracking, prompts significant privacy concerns.
Critics fear that with personal details
ranging from DNA to sleep and diet habits, “being fed” into a “government-run algorithm”, a massive data system, “the potential for misuse is enormous.”
It could also impact relations between parents and their offspring, as AI will help them by recording feeding times, monitoring sleep, and providing tips on caring for their children when they are sick.
AI can also be used to take notes, saving an estimated 90 seconds per appointment—the equivalent of 2,000 GPs’ full-time work per year, according to the enthusiastic NHS App developers.
Yet mental health professionals argue that “empathy can’t be automated,” while doctors cite fears that AI is replacing them.
While the government views the AI plan as innovative public health policy, others worry it will turn healthcare into another AI surveillance tool in people’s everyday lives.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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