A trial across 30,000 workers found the AI tool saved an average of 43 minutes of administrative time per staff member per day
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The rollout, described as the largest of its kind in the healthcare sector, follows a trial in which more than 30,000 NHS workers across 90 organizations used the tool. That trial found the AI assistant saved an average of 43 minutes of administrative time per staff member per day, equivalent to five weeks per person annually, the health service said. Full deployment across more than 500,000 staff is expected by Oct. 2026, with 200,000 users to be onboarded within the first six months.
NHS England said it expects Copilot to be used across multiple functions, including helping clinicians draft letters, assisting ward clerks with patient discharge processes and bed management, supporting medical secretaries with meeting minutes and document templates, and aiding human resources, finance, and management teams. Each NHS trust will receive a central allocation of licenses based on headcount, starting at around 2,000 Copilot Microsoft 365 licenses per organization, the health service said.
As part of the agreement, NHS organizations will also gain access to Copilot Studio, which allows teams to build AI agents that automate workflows. Individual trusts will be able to create custom agents to address specific challenges such as reducing help desk burdens, handling complaints and freedom of information requests, or improving financial processing. A governance layer called Agent 365 will ensure all agents comply with organizational policies, NHS England said.
"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," Health Innovation and Safety Minister Preet Kaur Gill said in a statement.
Rob Thompson, CEO at NHS England, said in a statement that the partnership "will mean staff can be freed from admin so they can focus on what they want to be doing — treating patients."
Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft U.K. and Ireland, said in a statement that rolling out the tool at scale would help NHS teams "cut through everyday admin and spend more time where it matters most."
Microsoft has been expanding its AI presence across the healthcare sector. The company announced a collaboration with Mayo Clinic to develop an AI model built for clinical reasoning tasks, combining Mayo Clinic's medical expertise and data with Microsoft's cloud and AI capabilities, with the goal of supporting earlier diagnoses and more personalized treatment. Microsoft's AI business surpassed an annual revenue run rate of $37 billion as of its most recent quarter, with adoption of the 365 Copilot add-on for commercial Office users reaching more than 20 million seats.
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