NHS England has confirmed plans to deploy Microsoft Copilot to 505,000 clinicians and support staff after completing what Microsoft UK described as the largest healthcare AI trial of its kind globally. The evaluation involved more than 30,000 workers across 90 NHS organizations and found that AI-assisted administrative support saved an average of 43 minutes per employee each day. According to NHS England, the rollout is expected to generate millions of hours in annual time savings, with 200,000 users scheduled to be onboarded within the first six months and the remaining 305,000 users added by October 2026.
The decision follows findings that equated the daily time savings to roughly five weeks per staff member each year. Health Innovation and Safety Minister Preet Kaur Gill said: “Every day, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals spend valuable time on administrative tasks that take them away from patients.” She added: “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.” Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer at NHS England, said: “The potential to save clinical staff nearly a day’s worth of admin time every fortnight could be a gamechanger for patients.” He added: “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.”
The deployment will support a range of operational and administrative functions across NHS England. Ward clerks will use the technology for patient discharge processes, rota planning and bed management, while medical secretaries will apply it to meeting documentation and template creation. Administrative teams in HR, finance and procurement will also use the platform, and management groups will employ it to prepare board papers and briefings. NHS England will additionally gain access to Copilot Studio, enabling individual NHS Trusts to build customized AI agents for workflow automation, including support for helpdesk operations, complaints handling, freedom of information requests and financial processing. Agent 365 will provide governance controls to ensure those agents comply with organizational security requirements.
Microsoft UK and Ireland CEO Darren Hardman said: “By rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot at scale, NHS teams can cut through everyday admin and spend more time where it matters most.” He added: “Bringing AI safely into the flow of healthcare will help ease pressures, improve productivity, and support better decision-making across the health service.” NHS England serves approximately 56 million people and employs around 1.4 million staff, making this one of the largest enterprise AI deployments undertaken by a healthcare organization. The structured onboarding programme will run for 12 months and is intended to support adoption across the health system while providing a large-scale example of AI implementation in public healthcare.
