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NHS England accelerates AI adoption with Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve service delivery, reduce costs and create more time for care
NHS England accelerates AI adoption with Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve service delivery, reduce costs and create more time for
About this update from Microsoft Corp.
NHS England to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot to 505,000 clinicians and support staff in largest implementation of its kind in the healthcare sectorNew agreement follows initial trial across 30,000 NHS workers, which found that using Copilot saved users 43 minutes on administration per day, enabling health workers to focus more time on careAgreement includes access to Copilot Studio, enabling NHS England to build and deploy AI agents to streamline existing processes with governance provided through Agent 365Deployment will be supported by extensive adoption and AI skilling program to ensure all NHS staff with access to Copilot can take full advantage of the benefits it deliversLONDON, June 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NHS England on Sunday announced that it is significantly accelerating AI adoption across healthcare services by providing 505,000 clinicians and support staff with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot.By providing access to the AI-powered assistant, NHS workers will be able to streamline administrative processes, improving capacity across NHS England Trusts, reducing costs and providing more time for patient care.Copilot helps users create, analyze and get work done faster. NHS England anticipates that Copilot will be harnessed in multiple ways across all aspects of the healthcare service, including:Ward clerks: Helping with patient discharge processes, service data analysis, rota building and bed managementMedical secretaries: Helping with meeting minutes and creating templates for consistencyCore services: Assisting HR, finance and procurement functionsManagement: Helping draft board papers, briefings, organizational analysisAs part of the agreement, NHS organizations will also have access to Copilot Studio, enabling teams to build agents to automate and streamline workflows, reducing the time it takes to conduct research, analyze data, address HR-related enquiries or facilitate meetings.NHS England will be able to build and deploy agents centrally, while individual trusts will be able to build custom agents to solve trust-specific challenges, such as reducing help desk burdens, accelerating complaints and freedom of information requests, or improving financial analysis and processing. Agent 365 will ensure that all built agents are fully secure and adhere to all organizational policies and rules.The agreement follows the largest AI trial of its kin...