Faster care, thinner judgment? The hidden risk of AI in the NHS

As Scotland embraces its own digital revolution, are we accidentally deskilling our doctors?

Across the NHS, a new authority is emerging: the algorithm.

As Scotland pushes forward with its “Digital Front Door”, the direction is clear: faster triage, advanced diagnostics and more streamlined care.
In our drive to modernise healthcare services, however, we risk overlooking a quieter, more human consequence: the gradual erosion of clinical judgment, the very skill that has historically defined safe medical practice. Research into clinical decision-making shows that medicine is not just procedural, it’s fundamentally cognitive work, centred on how doctors think.