Value of patient-directed AI; Menopause and prostate priorities; Barriers of medication adherence
Critical health literacy key to unlocking patient benefits from AI
A new paper explores how patient-directed AI can offer new opportunities, help increase engagement and shift control towards the individual. The paper - Critical AI Health Literacy as Liberation Technology: A New Skill for Patient Empowerment - is published by the National Academy of Medicine. It discusses how risks of generative AI can be overcome using critical AI health literacy. This "equips patients and care partners to interrogate the systems behind AI, recognise bias and institutional alignment, and resist outputs that prioritise organizational interests over patient values".
Key highlights include:
- Patient communities can play an important role by co-designing AI tools that reflect shared needs, values, and ethics.
- True empowerment lies not in trusting AI for the right answer but in learning to think with and beyond it, to question, shape, and challenge its outputs.
Read the full paper on the National Academy of Medicine website here.
Menopause and prostate problems key priorities for online hospital
The first conditions to be treated by the new NHS Online hospital service have been selected, with menopause and prostate problems among the priorities. The online hospital was launched by the Prime Minister in September 2025 and will see its first patients in 2027. The service aims to transform how healthcare is delivered, allowing patients to be triaged quickly through the NHS App. It will also allow patients to speak to doctors via video and be monitored in the comfort of their home, saving unnecessary trips to hospital.
Conditions which will be the first to be treated by the NHS Online service are:
- Women’s health issues including severe menopause symptoms and menstrual problems that can be a sign of endometriosis or fibroids.
- Prostate problems like prostate enlargement and a raised prostate specific antigen (PSA) level.
- Eye conditions including cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration
NHS Online will also provide support for other painful and distressing conditions, such as iron deficiency anaemia and inflammatory bowel disease.
Read more about the online hospital priorities on the NHS England website here.
Remote GP consultations reduce confidence and trust
In a paper published in the British Journal of General Practice, Charlotte Paddison and Theo Georghiou from the Nuffield Trust explore the implications for patient trust from staffing changes in general practice. They analysed data to investigate the association between confidence and trust and perception of needs met with patient characteristics.
Patients who are confused about who their GP practice appointment is with have lower trust and are more likely to perceive that their needs are not met. These effects are magnified when the consultations are remote (on the phone or by video). Helping patients understand new roles and providing clarity on who the patient is seeing are essential for building patient confidence in new models of care, the paper warns.
Read the paper on the British Journal of General Practice website here.
Digital transformation could widen workforce inequalities
In this article for Digital Health, Professor Nora Colton, founding director of the UCL Global Business School for Health, warns the rollout of AI within the NHS is likely to create gendered divisions within the workforce. Professor Colton said research based on in-depth interviews with 27 clinical fellows has shown the way technology is used often impacts female and male clinicians differently. The most striking gap was around career interruptions, with women raising maternity leave or part-time work as key moments that cause challenges in how they use technology.
For women, many described an additional layer of vigilance: checking whether AI-generated diagnoses might be biased or wrong or reassuring patients when their attention must shift to a screen. Male clinicians frequently worried that rigid digital systems constrain their professional judgement.
Read the full article on the Digital Health website here.
Poor patient education blamed for medication non-adherence
Patient engagement specialists Cognitant Group has launched a whitepaper exploring the barriers and opportunities around medication adherence. The PIF member published the paper after conducting a survey of health professionals to understand why half of patients do not take their medicines as prescribed to them by their doctors.
Respondents unanimously cited poor patient education and understanding of their condition and treatment as the reason why patients fail to take their medicines as prescribed. Nearly 8 in 10 said adherence support materials developed in collaboration with patients and advocacy groups are "essential" or "very important" to improving engagement and trust.
Download the white paper on the Cognitant website here.
Patients co-create new standard of care
A new European standard for pulmonary fibrosis care has been developed by patients, carers and healthcare professionals. The COCOS-IPF project was set up to improve care for people living with the serious lung disease across Europe. Its goal was to find out what key outcomes - the things patients, carers, doctors and nurses consider important - should be measured and discussed in every patient’s care.
There were 17 outcomes identified, under four headings – health and symptoms, daily life and function, knowledge and self-management and emotionally wellbeing and satisfaction. To make the information more accessible, the European Lung Foundation and the European Pulmonary Fibrosis Federation have published a lay summary and infographic of the standard. These resources can be used during medical appointments to support discussions with healthcare teams and help patients take a more active role in their care.
Find out more about the standard on the ELF website here.
Share views on guidance for asthma technology
Healthcare professionals and the public are being invited to have their say on new guidance on digital technologies to support asthma self-management. NICE early-use HealthTech guidance provides recommendations on promising health technologies that have the potential to address national unmet need. A draft guidance document on digital technologies to support self-management of asthma in the NHS in England has now been prepared for consultation with stakeholders and the public. NICE invites comments from registered stakeholders, healthcare professionals and the public. The closing date for comments is 5pm on 21 January 2026.