back to article BYE, EVERYBODY! Virtual personal health assistants are coming, says Gartner

As chatbot technology advances it will no longer be necessary to book an appointment to see a doctor as the whole meeting can all be done with the help of virtual personal health assistants, according to Gartner. At the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, the mystical mages at Gartner have, once again, made another bold prediction: up to …

  1. Mage Silver badge

    Gartner

    Now I know Gartner are smoking something bad for health.

    1. Pen-y-gors

      Re: Gartner

      If Gartner were right even 10% of the time by now we'd all be driving flying cars and living on the Moon.

  2. ma1010
    Paris Hilton

    Really?

    I've read about insanity being considered, in some primitive societies, an indication of divine inspiration. Someone babbling nonsense may well wind up being venerated and given special status because of this belief.

    Considering that somebody apparently PAYS Gartner for this "prognostication," perhaps we're not as advanced as we'd like to think?

    Paris because I think even she knows better than to trust her health to a chatbot.

  3. Banksy

    Google

    Google is already more accurate than the GPs I've had the misfortune of seeing.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    no longer be necessary to book an appointment

    given that 99% of such appointments is: drink plenty of liquid, rest and if you think I'm taking a mickey, go get some paracetamol, NEXT! - yes, chatbots will do that cheaper. Because, let's be frankly, it's ONLY about cutting costs.

    p.s. when can I expect to see MP chatbots, probably never?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: no longer be necessary to book an appointment

      Do you really need something as complex as a chatbot to replace an MP? I'd say something simpler should suffice. A coffee stain, for example.

  5. frank ly

    Where do I send the picture ....

    .... of my yellowing and deformed toenail?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Where do I send the picture ....

      I'm a bit odd, could you send it to me?

  6. sad_loser

    Replace Emergency Departments

    This is the only NHS you will be left with once Jeremy Hunt has finished.

    Enjoy!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Replace Emergency Departments

      IMHO a half decent chabot could be pretty helpful for the non-elderly.

      I'd be up for it. At my GP it's so difficult to get an appointment, and when you do the GP is so staggeringly awful that these days we just go straight to A&E. I'm not proud, as this is clearly far from ideal for all concerned.

      But maybe diverting the seemingly huge but not massively effective GP budget into broad 'triage' tech might work. While we are visioneering, this could perhaps even contribute to cutting down on overprescribed antibiotics.

  7. cantankerous swineherd

    these people are brain dead.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      these people are brain dead.

      The problem is, so are 80% of the medical staff I talk to.

      "Why didn't you tell me that?!?!" [accusing glare]

      "I DID. TWICE."

      Also, they care about nothing but the dollar. I was discussing test results with my ear/nose/throat doctor, and at the end, he stood up and started feeling my neck and throat. It was really strange, and I didn't realize until later that it let him bill the session as an examination for triple the cost. I complained to the insurance company and they told him to stop playing the fool.

      1. Mark 85

        We had a classic one this week... my wife had some issue with her only leg. The doctor as 3 times to see her "other" leg and had to be told three times "there is no other leg"..... <sigh> Maybe a voodoo doctor or medicine man is the way to go..

  8. Ray Foulkes

    NHS 111 - we already have it in the UK

    Well, not quite as sophisticated as a bot that speaks and listens - we employ humans to read out the script from a computer screen and select from 1 of X possible answers received from the victim. (sorry potential patient). Given the extensive range of more or less incoherent accents in the UK, a bot would be one step too far; at least for the foreseeable future.

  9. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Trust me, I'm a doctor

    And I can see a whole new phishing area opening up: "Just take off your clothes and stand in front of the webcam for me"

    But as for:

    > they are better at processing all the determinants of health and wellbeing than even the best of doctors

    That may be so, but it is only simple cases where an ill person walks into an appointment, only talks to someone and walks out with a prescription (though I can see this would be easily gamed to get some choice meds, for other uses). How will a chat-bot take your B.P. or pulse or ask "does this hurt?"

    And it will still need the patient to turn up somewhere when the inevitable tests are required.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gartner Need A Better Calendar

    "Technology has advanced to the point where computers have become superior to the human mind; they are more accurate and consistent, and they are better at processing all the determinants of health and wellbeing than even the best of doctors."

    This has to be a joke.

    Laura Craft? She should go back to swinging on ropes and climbing walls.

    1. tiggity Silver badge

      Re: Gartner Need A Better Calendar

      May be relevant

      https://www.newscientist.com/article/2109354-dr-house-goes-digital-as-ibms-watson-diagnoses-rare-diseases/

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