PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Health Serv.

Sec. Implementation Science

Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1608087

This article is part of the Research TopicPlace-based Evidence for Clinical Artificial Intelligence ImplementationView all 4 articles

The Role of Procurement Frameworks in Responsible AI Innovation in the National Health Service: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective

Provisionally accepted
Thomas David EvansThomas David Evans1,2*Omer AhmadOmer Ahmad3Joseph E AldermanJoseph E Alderman4,5,6Georgia BaileyGeorgia Bailey7Peter BannisterPeter Bannister8,9Nick BarlowNick Barlow10Natalie DavisonNatalie Davison2Amanda IssacAmanda Issac11,12Aditya U KaleAditya U Kale13,14Trystan MacdonaldTrystan Macdonald13,14,6Qasim MalikQasim Malik2Susan ShelmerdineSusan Shelmerdine15,16,17Jeffry HoggJeffry Hogg18,5Alastair DennistonAlastair Denniston19,20,6
  • 1George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton, United Kingdom
  • 2AI and Digital Health Team, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 3University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 4College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 5University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 6National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, UK, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 7Skin Analytics, London, United Kingdom
  • 8Romilly Life Sciences, London, United Kingdom
  • 9University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
  • 10DrDoctor, London, United Kingdom
  • 11King's College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 12Royal College of Radiologists, London, United Kingdom
  • 13Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 14Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
  • 15Department of Radiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • 16Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Faculty of Population Health Sciences, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 17NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 18Department of Applied Health Research, School of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 19Birmingham Health Partners Centre for Regulatory Science and Innovation, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 20National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre, Moorfields Eye Hospital/University College London, London, United Kingdom

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Procurement carries legal requirements across public services in the UK but, for stakeholders in clinical Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation, it is often poorly understood. This perspective piece summarises insights from a cross-sector workshop exploring the role of procurement frameworks in supporting AI innovation in the National Health Service (NHS). The significant characteristics of AI from a procurement perspective are identified and their consequences are explored. The workshop identified challenges including visibility of AI procurement processes, uncertainty in the value in AI products, process inefficiencies, sustainability and framework design. Opportunities relating to AI procurement were also identified. These insights highlight the potential for procurement frameworks to enable responsible AI innovation in healthcare but acknowledge the need for collaborative efforts from a range of stakeholders to overcome the difficulties experienced by many to date.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, procurement, Frameworks, National Health Service, Implmentation

Received: 08 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Evans, Ahmad, Alderman, Bailey, Bannister, Barlow, Davison, Issac, Kale, Macdonald, Malik, Shelmerdine, Hogg and Denniston. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Thomas David Evans, George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton, United Kingdom

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material