This week saw extraordinary activity in the group with over 1,600 messages exchanged across eight days. The announcement of the HSJ Digital Awards 2026 shortlist brought celebration, with Paul Joshi from Crown Medical Practice nominated for Digital Innovator of the Year. Anthropic's Claude launches (Claude in Excel and Cowork) generated significant excitement about AI productivity tools, whilst the perennial EPR switching debate resurfaced with nuanced discussion about change management, funding models, and interoperability. The group grappled with important questions about AI liability and clinical safety, and welcomed new members bringing expertise in AI diagnostics and prescribing analytics.
Major Topics
HSJ Digital Awards 2026
The HSJ Digital Awards 2026 shortlist was announced this week. Paul Joshi from Crown Medical Practice has been shortlisted for Digital Innovator of the Year. The awards span 25 categories including Digital Clinical Safety, Driving Change through AI and Automation, and Improving Primary Care through Digital.
"Congratulations to all those shortlisted - well deserved recognition for the hard work happening across the system." - Digital health specialist
Claude Takes Centre Stage
The week began with considerable excitement over Anthropic's Claude launches. Claude in Excel was described as "phenomenal" by several members.
"This could help NHS get rid of MS Excel, BI Tools and FDP" - Innovation-focused GP
Claude Cowork also launched mid-week, with one member reporting being "in ecstasy" when MCP tool access was enabled. The viral Moltbot/Clawdbot phenomenon was extensively discussed, including its security implications. Coverage by Linus Tech Tips and Wired highlighted prompt injection vulnerabilities.
"I am going with waiting for a couple of weeks to see if it deletes all of someone's files/emails before I give it a go" - GP and clinical informatician
The Great EPR Debate Continues
A LinkedIn post asking "how true is this? GPs just don't like change" sparked extensive debate about EPR switching, covering true barriers to switching, GPIT funding control, interoperability progress, and migration realities.
"I have changed systems 3 or 4 times in 30 years. It is a very painful process... probably takes 6 months to get back to full productivity" - Experienced GP
"Suppliers have largely succeeded in achieving their internal KPIs whereas Buyers aka NHS Leadership have totally failed in holding suppliers to account" - Innovation-focused GP
A clinical EPR supplier representative confirmed that "this will be the year" for native interoperability, prompting healthy scepticism: "The cynic in me refuses to believe it until it happens because most of us on here from general practice will have heard that more often than they hear Mariah Carey at Christmas." - Clinical safety specialist
AI Liability and Clinical Safety
A clinical safety specialist provided an excellent analysis of liability considerations around AI triage tools, noting that GPs as "unlimited liability providers" need to carefully consider who shoulders the burden when things go wrong.
Key questions raised for anyone considering AI triage: Did you read the contract for who takes liability for a false negative? What are the indemnity and insurance provider positions? Does it perform objectively better than current processes?
"REMEMBER - if you want to pilot, and it is live service, you will need to undertake compliance work (DPIA, DCB0160, etc). Bear this in mind going into the work." - Digital health and clinical AI specialist
Patient AI Use: A primary care innovator shared a fascinating anecdote - a patient had put her medical records through ChatGPT, which advised her that her MCV was slightly high and she should have further tests. "More nuanced than Googling symptoms/results" - and a sign of things to come.
Events and Learning Opportunities
RSM Digital Health Series 2026 - A fantastic new series of in-person events was announced, covering Digital Twins, AI at the Heart of Clinical Practice, Medical-grade Wearables, Cybersecurity and Clinical Risk, Unlocking Healthcare through Data, Human-centred Design, and Entrepreneurship in Digital Health. Free for RSM members.
Beyond the Hype Lecture Series - A Yale lecture series on AI received glowing reviews. Register for the series
NHS Hackday Cardiff - Tickets now live for 21-22 March. NHShackday.com
Lighter Moments
The group's book club recommendations included the Bobiverse series and the Expeditionary Force series featuring Skippy the AI. A member shared photos from an aurora-watching trip to Norway with 5G coverage "even in the remotest of wilderness" - prompting: "Got full bars 5G on a ferry WAY north of the Arctic Circle. Can't even bloody get that in Cheadle."
The ultimate prompt injection test was proposed: "To be fair this could be a good injection prompt test where we just add GIANT DUCKS to every message and see what happens"
Quote Wall
"Your writing will be your biggest moat in the world filled with AI Slop" - Innovation-focused GP
"Id rate switching EPR as equivalent of playing with a Lament Configuration" - Digital health and clinical AI specialist
"There is only so much that even the best tech can do to protect general practice in these scenarios" - Clinical safety specialist
"Change management is a discipline where people get PhDs in. Applies to everything" - Recently qualified GP
Journal Watch
BMJ: Palantir and US Data Use - Discussion of data governance and trust implications for NHS contracts.
Nature: AI Assistant Deletes PhD Student's Files - Cautionary tale about AI file access. Nature
Healthwatch: AI in NHS Care - Public experience of AI in healthcare. Healthwatch
Government AI Training Announcement - Free AI training for 10 million workers by 2030.
Ethan Mollick: Management as AI Superpower - Highly recommended piece. One Useful Thing
Looking Ahead
Unresolved Debates: Will 2026 actually be "the year" for EMIS/S1/Medicus interoperability? How should liability be distributed between AI vendors, practices, and clinicians? What governance frameworks are needed for patients using AI on their own records?
Upcoming: RSM Digital Health Series begins 11 February; NHS Hackday Cardiff 21-22 March; Optum/NUG Conference and Medicus NUG in April.
Group Personality Snapshot
This week perfectly captured what makes this community unique: the ability to move seamlessly from deep technical debates about AI liability and EPR interoperability to discussions about sci-fi book recommendations and aurora photography. The group balances healthy scepticism with genuine enthusiasm for innovation. Members hold each other accountable on safety and governance whilst celebrating successes like the HSJ nominations.
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For help with clinical safety (DCB0129/0160), data protection (DPIA/Privacy Notices), and governance of Clinical AI that integrates with your ways of working, visit www.curistica.com or contact hello@curistica.com
AI in the NHS Weekly Newsletter is produced by Curistica Ltd for members of the AI in the NHS WhatsApp community. All contributors are anonymised. Views expressed are those of individual community members and do not represent any organisation.
