TL;DRNHS England will give 505,000 staff Microsoft 365 Copilot after a 30,000-person pilot found 43 minutes of daily admin time saved per worker.
NHS England is giving more than 505,000 clinicians and support staff access to Microsoft 365 Copilot in what will be the largest AI deployment in healthcare globally. The rollout follows a pilot across 90 NHS organisations in which 30,000 workers used the tool for administrative tasks. NHS England says the average participant saved 43 minutes per day, roughly equivalent to five working weeks per year.
The contract is valued at approximately £120 million and covers Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and agent-governance tooling. NHS England plans to onboard 200,000 users within the first six months and the full 505,000 within a year. The subscription includes Copilot Studio, a platform for building AI agents without requiring technical expertise.
“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,” UK Health Innovation and Safety Minister Preet Kaur Gill said. The deployment is framed as part of the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England. Rob Thompson, NHS England’s Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer, described the potential to save clinical staff “nearly a day’s worth of admin time every fortnight” as a “gamechanger for patients.”
