The move has drawn scepticism from some organisations who fear for elderly and vulnerable patients
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Health bosses are planning on introducing iPad-style check-ins for A&E patients in a bid to bring “order” to the NHS.
The new system would require people to enter their details onto a tablet at a kiosk to help determine what kind of help they need.
Outlining the plans, NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey said the proposals were part of efforts to bring order to emergency care, which would prioritise the most urgent cases and, in turn, send others elsewhere.
Hospitals are being pushed to introduce the changes by winter. It will see patients answer questions about symptoms and medical history on self-check-in screens or tablets.
Read more: AI rollout in NHS to increase in bid to speed up cancer diagnosis and clear backlogs
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Speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester, Sir Jim described it as his “personal obsession” to bring “order” into urgent and emergency care.
He said: “The big prize for this coming winter is shifting to introducing many more appointments into urgent care.”
But the move has raised fears for vulnerable and elderly patients who may struggle with the digital screening and as a result be incorrectly turned away.
Director of Silver Voices, Dennis Reed, who campaigns for people aged over 60, said: “I’m really worried about the patients who will struggle with this, or who may not be able to describe their symptoms properly, when what they need is a clinician who can see them and ask the right questions.
“People will fall through the net in large numbers if this is rolled out.
“Think of the post-war generation, who don’t want to complain and may end up pushed to the back of the queue by those shouting louder about their symptoms.
“It risks becoming a case of computer says no.”
The model has already been deployed at 18 hospital sites, with a trial at East Lancashire Teaching Hospitals reportedly cutting A&E waiting times by nearly half.
However, Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, added: “As digital triage rolls out more widely, it must work for all patients, not just the digitally confident.
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“Older patients, those with disabilities, and people with limited digital access must never be disadvantaged because they couldn’t use a kiosk or a tablet.”
It also comes as the government confirmed AI will be used more widely to speed up cancer diagnosis for millions of NHS patients.
The Department of Health set out how £20 million of earmarked funding will be used to roll out AI analysis of chest X-rays to every NHS trust in England by 2029.
More than four million patients have already received a faster lung cancer diagnosis or all-clear thanks to AI, the government has said.
