Proximie, AWS, Deloitte Launch NHS Surgical AI Pilot

One of healthcare’s enduring challenges is how to treat more patients without building costly new facilities or relying on contractors to meet rising demand, particularly as hospitals operate on increasingly tight budgets.

Now, one AI-powered approach is being tested as a way to unlock additional capacity from existing NHS facilities. 

Proximie, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Deloitte, has partnered with the NHS to launch the largest-ever surgical evaluation at the public health service.

In a year-long pilot programme, Proximie’s Intelligence Suite will be deployed across 104 operating theatres, catheterisation laboratories and endoscopy suites at eight NHS hospital sites.

Writing on LinkedIn following the announcement, Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, Founder and CEO of Proximie, says, “I still operate in the NHS, and nobody in those theatres is short of effort…Sometimes there is simply a better way to do things, and it takes hospitals willing to innovate, work with us and push the NHS forward.”

Nadine continues: “Although we are already seeing material impact from our current global deployments, this evaluation is built to find out how big an impact this makes across the NHS, at scale.”

Proximie is a UK-headquartered health tech company transforming operating rooms into connected ecosystems of people, devices and data. Its cloud-based platform combines surgical telepresence, data capture, AI and computer vision to support collaboration, training and workflow optimisation. 

Optimising theatre performance

Proximie’s Intelligence Suite captures surgical and operational data in the background of the operating theatre, without disrupting clinical teams. 

Data is then de-identified and anonymised at source, while Proximie’s AI models turn it into real-time insights across the operative pathway. This allows teams to identify bottlenecks, optimise workflows and improve theatre use efficiency.

Led by Proximie, the programme also incorporates AWS and Deloitte’s tech infrastructure and delivery expertise. 

AWS will provide the cloud and AI infrastructure needed to securely process high volumes of surgical data across all eight sites, without requiring additional infrastructure at each hospital as the programme scales.

Kira Levy, Head of Healthcare UK at AWS, explains that the “collaboration is a powerful example of how cloud and AI can help hospitals to unlock capacity within existing resources, so more patients can be treated sooner."

Deloitte is supporting programme delivery and transformation across participating NHS Trusts and the NHS London region, helping translate the findings into day-to-day theatre operations.

"Operating theatres are the most costly and resource-heavy part of a hospital. Efficient use of these facilities allows NHS Trusts to maximise resources and, importantly, ensure more patients receive timely procedures," says Sara Siegel, Global Health & Human Services Sector Leader at Deloitte.

Over the next 12 months, participating sites will use insights from the Intelligence Suite to reduce delays between procedures and make better use of available theatre time. 

The programme aims to support more than 20,000 procedures a year across the sites, enabling more patients to be treated without extending staff working hours.

NHS surgical capacity challenges

The evaluation comes amid warnings about capacity limitations at NHS hospitals. 

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS England) was concerned that the NHS could miss the Government’s interim target of 65% of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks by March 2026. However, the target was subsequently met, with 65.3% of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks in March.

The achievement marked progress on waiting times, but RCS England has continued to warn that capacity constraints could make it difficult to sustain that momentum. 

The partnership between Proximie, AWS, Deloitte and the NHS illustrates one approach being explored to make better use of existing theatre capacity, using AI and operational data to identify potential efficiencies across the surgical pathway.

Proximie - key partners

Deloitte
CEO: Joseph Ucuzoglu | HQ: London, UK

Deloitte is a global professional services organisation providing audit and assurance, consulting, tax, risk and financial advisory services. Operating across 150 countries and territories, it works with businesses and governments on technology, transformation and complex strategic challenges. Deloitte’s global operations are led by CEO Joseph Ucuzoglu, while Deloitte UK is headed by Senior Partner and CEO Darren Graves.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
CEO: Matt Garman | HQ: Seattle, Washington, US

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a global cloud computing platform providing infrastructure, data storage, analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning services. Launched in 2006, AWS supports organisations ranging from startups and enterprises to governments, helping them modernise operations and scale digital services. Matt Garman has served as CEO of AWS since June 2024.