The National Health Service, the UK’s national health insurance fund, is partnering with Amazon to give Brits the ability to easily get medical advice from voice assistant Alexa. Alexa relies on reliable medical information from the NHS.
According to the British Department of Health, this technology will mainly help patients with disabilities, such as the elderly, the blind and people who cannot simply surf the internet. With simple voice commands, they can get NHS verified medical information in seconds. This mainly concerns relatively simple medical issues, such as how best to treat a migraine or what the symptoms of the flu are.
The ministry hopes the technology will ease the pressure on the NHS and GPs when it comes to providing information on common diseases and conditions. According to the ministry, the collaboration with Amazon also fits in with the aim to make more NHS services available digitally. Minister Matt Hancock indicates that the British government is open to other platforms and tech companies to enter into similar partnerships. Hancock tells Sky News that millions of people are already using a smart speaker for medical advice. He wants Britons to be able to get the best medical advice without sharing false information that he believes could be picked up arbitrarily by the algorithms.
A Sky News journalist asked the minister what he thinks about the imaginary scenario of millions of people sharing their personal health data with Facebook. Hancock states that privacy rules have been put in place to prevent the data from being sold for commercial purposes.
Britain’s umbrella organization for general practitioners, the Royal College of General Practitioners, says it’s an interesting development that could help some patients figure out what kind of medical care they need before actually seeking help. According to Helen Stokes-Lampard, professor and director of the organization, it can be especially useful for minor ailments that rarely require a primary care doctor appointment. However, she also states that it is important that independent research is done to ensure that Alexa advice is safe. She also warns of a digital divide, where some patients can afford this form of advice, while this does not apply to everyone.