May 8th 2026
As artificial intelligence tools rapidly move into health and care settings, a new national project is asking organisations to stop and ask an important question first: are we actually ready for AI?
The Centre of Excellence for Regulatory Science and Innovation in AI and Digital Health (CERSI-AI), led by the University of Birmingham alongside University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and national partners, has launched a public consultation on its new AI Readiness Assurance Framework and AI Readiness Checklist.
The project aims to help health and care organisations assess whether they have the right governance, workforce skills, digital infrastructure and oversight in place before introducing AI technologies.
The consultation is open to feedback from across health and care, including care providers, digital leaders, governance professionals, frontline staff and people drawing on care and support.
The work has been funded by NHS England and The Health Foundation and recognises that organisations across the sector are now facing growing pressure to engage with AI tools, despite very different levels of digital maturity and confidence.
The project includes two linked resources:
- an AI Readiness Assurance Framework, which sets out the wider principles organisations should consider
- an AI Readiness Checklist, designed as a practical self-assessment tool for organisations considering specific AI technologies.
The checklist looks at areas including:
- data and digital infrastructure
- governance and assurance
- workforce capability
- ethics and equity
- organisational strategy and leadership.
Importantly, the project makes a distinction between “decision-making readiness” and “implementation readiness”. In other words, organisations need to be able to make informed decisions about whether an AI tool is appropriate before thinking about how to deploy it safely.
Across the social care sector, providers are increasingly being approached by suppliers offering AI-powered products including transcription tools, care planning support, monitoring systems, workforce management tools and predictive analytics. At the same time, many providers are still building confidence around core digital foundations, cyber security, data protection and interoperability.
What we continue to hear from providers is that there is significant interest in AI, but also uncertainty. Many organisations are trying to work out what good governance looks like, who should be involved in decisions, how risks should be assessed, and how to balance innovation with safety and trust.
That is why it is important that adult social care voices are included in consultations like this one.
Much of the national conversation around AI still focuses heavily on the NHS and acute healthcare settings. But AI will increasingly affect adult social care too, including how information is recorded, shared and used, how people access support, and how care organisations make operational decisions.
The realities of social care also differ significantly from large NHS organisations. Many providers are smaller organisations with limited digital capacity, fewer specialist governance resources and very different workforce structures. Those differences need to be reflected in national frameworks and readiness tools if they are going to be practical and useful across the whole health and care system.
The consultation offers an opportunity for care providers to help shape that discussion while the framework and checklist are still being developed.
You can read the framework and checklist, and take part in the consultation here: The AI Readiness consultation
Closing date: 31 May 2026
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