The King's Fund analysis, titled ‘Is the NHS ready for the AI-powered patient' stems from a roundtable the think-tank conducted earlier this year with NHS leaders, technology developers, patient representatives, clinicians and policymakers.

Pritesh Mistry, author of the analysis and fellow for digital technologies at The King's Fund, said: 'The proliferation of direct-to-consumer services such as AI are fundamentally changing how the health and care system operates and how people interact with it. People no longer rely on a single front door for health advice and care. The NHS needs to recognise this new dawn and respond to it, or risk being left behind as patients become more frustrated with their disconnected care experiences and poor health outcomes.

‘We need to have a clearer strategy for how consumer-facing AI innovations can help turn our health service into the prevention-focussed sector the Government says it wants. The priority now should be making sure care can be more joined-up around people. Steps like reforming multi-disciplinary teams to ensure they span digital and physical services would be good first step in recognising this changing landscape and reflecting a more modern healthcare system.'