Healthcare Technology: UK startup promotes AI diagnoses

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03:26

Technology continues to improve health care in Great Britain. Hundreds of thousands of Britons can now obtain AI diagnoses via Britain's National Health Service. Some users praise the convenience but concerns have been raised by doctors' groups about the technology. From London, Catherine Drew reports.

Phillip Caudell is feeling unwell and has just made a doctor's appointment on his phone. He uses the Babylon health app, which connects him to a qualified doctor via Skype. Very soon, they're discussing his symptoms.

PHILLIP CAUDELLBABYLON HEALTH APP USER "I love it, I can get to see a doctor within a few hours."

The company behind the technology, Babylon, recently revealed it would be investing $100 million to build the next generation of AI powered technologies in a bid to help deal manage long-term health conditions.

Its AI is already helping doctors in the UK and Rwanda diagnose patients. And it claims its technology outperforms doctors in diagnosing medical conditions.

DR ALI PARSA, FOUNDER AND CEOBABYLON "I think artificial intelligence will increasingly do more and more, I think technology will increasingly do more and more of what humans did, allowing humans to focus on parts that we are falling behind on."

Founder Dr Ali Parsa has a global vision for how artificial intelligence can help bring doctors to the 50 per cent of the world's population which currently has no access to healthcare.

DR ALI PARSA, FOUNDER AND CEO BABYLON "We are short of five million doctors, what we are doing is freeing the time of the doctors we have to focus on what they should do allowing the machines to do the easier or more computational work."

The Babylon app has a key supporter in Britain's Minister for Health, a man who's made no secret of his wish to bring more technology into the National Health Service.

MATT HANCOCKUK SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH "In the modern world, many people live in much more flexible ways, and have higher expectations in terms of how they can get hold of services. I know this to be true because I am a patient, and I'm a subscriber here I get the free NHS version, and the reason I am is because I'm a busy guy, and I like to have my health needs dealt with on my phone."

CATHERINE DREWLONDON "Currently over six hundred thousand people in the UK are using the Babylon app, a number which looks set to increase as the service is rolled out across the UK, however some patients may share the reservations of the UK's professional body representing GPs that the individual doctor - patient relationship is a valuable one."

While the Royal College of GPs welcomes the use of technology, there is concern the use of AI lacks a human touch.

PROFESSOR HELEN STOKES-LAMPARDROYAL COLLEGE OF GPs "One of the very special parts of the doctor/patient relationship is what GPs build up over time with their patients, understanding the patient and the social context, their family setting and all those elements aren't going to be captured, however clever the technology is."

However, Babylon is confident the convenience of its app will allow it to spread across the UK, allowing patients like Phillip Caudell to access healthcare at a time and place that suits them. Catherine Drew, CGTN, London.