NHS Deploys Microsoft AI to Cut Administrative Burden

NHS England will provide Microsoft 365 Copilot to 505,000 clinicians and support staff. The deployment could reduce time spent on paperwork and allow more hours for direct patient care.

According to NHS England, the technology will streamline processes, improve capacity across Trusts and reduce costs. Staff will use Copilot to create documents, analyse data and complete tasks faster.

Technology to support NHS staff

Preet Kaur Gill, Health Innovation and Safety Minister, says: "Technology should support our NHS staff, not slow them down. Every day, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals spend valuable time on administrative tasks that take them away from patients."

Preet adds: "By rolling out Microsoft Copilot across the NHS, we can reduce that burden, free up clinicians' time and help staff focus on what they do best, caring for patients."

The system will be deployed across multiple areas of healthcare operations. Clinicians will use it to draft letters and for registrar training.

Ward clerks could apply it to patient discharge processes, service data analysis, rota building and bed management. Medical secretaries may draft patient letters, meeting minutes and templates with the tool.

Core services including human resources, finance and procurement will have access. Management teams could draft board papers, briefings and organisational analysis using the platform.

Custom automation through Copilot Studio

NHS organisations will access Copilot Studio as part of the agreement. The platform allows teams to build agents that automate workflows.

According to NHS England, this could reduce time needed for research, data analysis, HR enquiries and meeting facilitation. NHS England will build and deploy agents centrally.

Individual Trusts will create custom agents for specific challenges. These could include reducing helpdesk burdens, accelerating the processing of complaints and freedom of information requests, or improving financial analysis.

The implementation of Agent 365 will ensure security across all agents built. The system will enforce adherence to organisational policies and rules.

A 12-month onboarding plan will support the deployment. NHS England aims to onboard 200,000 users within six months.

A training and adoption programme will run alongside the rollout. This will ensure staff can use Copilot and artificial intelligence (AI) agents effectively.

Results from the global trial

The agreement follows a trial that took place in 2025. More than 30,000 NHS workers across 90 organisations used Microsoft 365 Copilot during the test period.

According to the trial results, AI-powered support could save 43 minutes per staff member daily. This equates to five weeks per person annually.

The findings showed that a full rollout could save up to 400,000 hours of staff time a month. This translates to millions of hours yearly.

NHS England estimated that the technology could save millions of pounds a month based on 100,000 users. The organisation described this as potentially reaching hundreds of millions in annual cost savings.

The UK Government stated it is creating a more efficient NHS through technology while reducing waste and duplication. NHS productivity for acute trusts increased by 2.7% between April 2024 and March 2025.

This exceeded the 2% year-on-year target set in the 10 Year Health Plan. Better use of technology and gen AI forms part of the productivity approach.

Efficiencies in elective and emergency care

The current strategy focuses on elective care, outpatient reform and urgent and emergency care efficiencies. Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer at NHS England, says: "NHS England wants to embrace cutting-edge technology and this Microsoft partnership will mean staff can be freed from admin so they can focus on what they want to be doing – treating patients."

Rob adds: "Innovations like this will help drive NHS productivity so patients can get the treatment they need sooner and there is better value for taxpayers."

Rob says the potential to save clinical staff nearly a day of admin time every fortnight could change outcomes for patients. Rob says: "We're making sure every pound is spent on cutting waiting times and boosting care through the Plan for Change and 10 Year Health Plan."

Darren Hardman, CEO at Microsoft UK & Ireland, states that "bringing AI safely into the flow of healthcare will help ease pressures, improve productivity and support better decision-making" across the health service.

Darren adds: "We're proud to work with NHS England to help tackle some of its biggest challenges and accelerate digital transformation for the benefit of staff and patients alike."