NHS England Taps Microsoft 365 Copilot to Cut Admin Burden

NHS England is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot at scale to give more than half a million clinicians and support staff a digital assistant that reduces paperwork and costs while improving capacity.

The rollout, according to NHS England and the UK Government, is designed to free up time for direct patient care by streamlining routine tasks across the health service.

Preet Kaur Gill, Health Innovation and Safety Minister, says: “Technology should support our NHS staff, not slow them down.

“Every day, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals spend valuable time on administrative tasks that take them away from patients. 

“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.”

Copilot helps users create, analyse and complete work faster by drafting, summarising and organising information across Microsoft 365 apps.

It is expected to ease operational pressures across clinical, administrative and corporate teams, with benefits felt in both frontline and back-office functions.

Planned uses include the following tasks:

• Clinical administration to assist clinicians in drafting letters and registrar training
• Ward clerks to help with patient discharge processes, service data analysis, rota building and bed management
• Medical secretaries to help with the drafting of patient letters, meeting minutes and creating templates for consistency
• Core services to assist human resources, finance and procurement functions
• Management to help to draft board papers, briefings, organisational analysis.

These use cases aim to reduce manual workload, improve data quality and bring greater consistency to routine documents.

Custom agents with Copilot Studio

As part of the agreement, NHS organisations will have access to Copilot Studio, which enables teams to build agents that automate and streamline workflows.

NHS England will design and deploy agents centrally for common needs, while individual NHS trusts will develop custom agents to address local priorities.

Examples include reducing helpdesk volumes, accelerating complaints and freedom of information responses, and improving financial analysis and processing.

Implementation of Agent 365 will ensure all agents are secure and compliant, with controls that enforce organisational policies and rules.

The deployment is backed by a 12-month onboarding plan that targets a rapid scale-up to 200,000 users within the first six months.

An extensive training and adoption programme will help staff use Copilot and AI agents effectively from day one, building digital confidence and skills.

Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer at NHS England, says: “NHS England wants to embrace cutting-edge technology and this Microsoft partnership will mean staff can be freed from admin so they can focus on what they want to be doing – treating patients.”

“Innovations like this will help drive NHS productivity so patients can get the treatment they need sooner and there is better value for taxpayers.

“We are making sure every pound is spent on cutting waiting times and boosting care through the Plan for Change and 10 Year Health Plan.”

Trial evidence and productivity gains

The agreement follows what is described as the largest healthcare AI trial of its kind, run in 2025 across 90 NHS organisations and involving more than 30,000 workers using Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The trial finds that AI-powered administrativesupport saves an average of 43 minutes per staff member per day, which equates to around five weeks per person annually.

At full rollout, Microsoft 365 Copilot could save up to 400,000 hours of staff time per month, adding up to millions of hours saved each year.

The NHS estimates that, based on 100,000 users, the technology could save millions of pounds each month.

At scale, this could reach hundreds of millions of pounds every year, to be reinvested in patient care and frontline services.

The UK Government says it is building a more efficient NHS by harnessing technology while cutting waste and duplication.

NHS productivity for acute trusts increased by 2.7% between April 2024 and March 2025, exceeding the 2% year-on-year target in the 10 Year Health Plan.

Accelerating digital transformation

Better use of technology and Gen AI is central to NHS productivity efforts, with a focus on elective care, outpatient reform and urgent and emergency care.

Darren Hardman, CEO at Microsoft UK & Ireland, says “bringing AI safely into the flow of healthcare will help ease pressures, improve productivity and support better decision-making” across the service.

He adds: “We are proud to work with NHS England to help tackle some of its biggest challenges and accelerate digital transformation for the benefit of staff and patients alike.”