An initiative called TrustX has been launched to help verify, deploy, and test agentic AI for use across the NHS and social care.

It aims to support the government’s NHS 10 year health plan, which calls for the large-scale adoption of AI tools, including technology to support diagnosis, automation of admin tasks, predicting demand for services, and ambient voice agents for tasks such as note-taking.

TrustX aims to address the risk of bias, potential errors and misinformation from AI agents by evaluating how they behave in real-world situations, interact with other technologies and data sources, and how they may change over time.

The initiative is being run in partnership between Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS), the University of Cambridge’s Trustworthy AI Lab, the Responsible AI Institute and The King’s Fund.

Professor Hatim Abdulhussein, chief executive at Health Innovation KSS, said: “Frontline NHS teams need AI that is safe, practical, and ready for real-world pressures. 

“TrustX connects innovation to the places where it matters most, giving clinicians and operational leaders a reliable way to test, evaluate, and adopt Agentic AI. 

“This partnership will help the NHS move faster, reduce friction, and unlock meaningful improvements in productivity and patient care.”

TrustX is hoped to inform and support the development of a shared ecosystem for safe experimentation, rapid learning, and scalable adoption across the NHS.

It will introduce a ‘trusted AI technology’ badge to provide professionals and the public with confidence that a software system has been independently verified and is being monitored over time for safety, accuracy, and alignment.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King’s Fund, said: “We are delighted to join the partnership to launch TrustX and to play a role in supporting the development, validation and implementation of agentic AI within an NHS environment. 

“The 10 year health plan rightly says innovation and use of cutting-edge technology can play an important role to tackling some of the operational pressures and challenges facing our health and care system. 

“Longer term, there is huge potential for AI – if implemented well – to transform how the NHS works as well as improving care for patients and how people experience NHS services.”

TrustX is being supported by founders from UK health tech companies, including Dr Dom Pimenta of TORTUS, Dr Haris Shuaib of Newtons Tree, Carmelo Insalaco of Rapid Health, Dr John Jeans of CLEARnotes, Amna Askari and Rachel Finegold of Frontier Health AI and Seb Barker of Beam.

In a joint statement, the founders said: “As founders of leading healthcare AI companies, we share a commitment to building technologies that are safe, trustworthy, and aligned with the needs of clinicians and patients.

“By contributing to TrustX, we aim to set a benchmark for responsible innovation and help create an ecosystem where AI delivers measurable benefits without compromising safety.”

Meanwhile, a national commission was launched by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in September to accelerate access to the latest AI tools, including AI ambient voice technology for clinical note taking.