HEALTHCARE UNIONS HAVE warned that while Artificial Intelligence (AI) has “potential benefits” for the health service, it also carries “great risks”.

The ICTU Group of Healthcare Unions also expressed disappointment that a document on AI use in the health service was published “without adequate or any real engagement with worker representatives”. 

It comes after Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill this week launched ‘AI for Care’, the first national strategy on the use of AI in health and social care.

The Department of Health said the move “signifies strategic intent, operational readiness, and a whole‑of‑system shift toward safe, ethical, and effective adoption of artificial intelligence across healthcare”.

The Department said benefits will include faster diagnosis, better patient flow, less paperwork for clinicians, earlier disease detection, and greater efficiency.

Minister Carroll MacNeill remarked that AI for Care “provides a clear and practical roadmap for adopting AI in ways that are safe, transparent, truly enhance patient care, and support clinicians”.

She added that the strategy will “use technology to strengthen, rather than replace the vital human relationships at the core of healthcare”.

Carroll MacNeill also said “improved healthcare outcomes are already being seen from the use of AI” and added that “robust safeguards” such as “mandatory human oversight” will be in place.

Meanwhile, Richard Greene, HSE chief clinical information officer, added that “we will ensure we remain fully person-centric and transparent and trustworthy”.

“We will ensure a human approach is taken to use AI to further enable – not replace – healthcare professionals in their work.

“We will ensure that we enforce the appropriate governance and safety measures and realise proven benefit throughout the deployment of our AI Strategy.”

The HSE will soon publish an AI Implementation Framework to complement AI for Care and ensure consistent rollout of AI across all Health Regions.

‘Significant risks’

The ICTU Group of Healthcare Unions however has expressed concern over the policy and said workers had not been properly consulted.

Acting Chair of the Staff Panel of Healthcare Unions and INMO Deputy General Secretary Edward Mathews said:

“Unions who represent the vast majority of healthcare workers in the State are rightly concerned that the HSE has ploughed ahead with publishing a document outlining how AI will be used in the public health service without proper consultation with workers.”

While Matthews said AI has the potential to “contribute to healthcare services,” he added that “AI carries with it both potential benefits but also great risks”. 

Matthews said the HSE “should not be completely transfixed by AI alone” and “must enhance personal care, not replace it”.

He said that for the “potential benefits” to be seen and for the “significant risks to be appropriately mitigated, the members we represent must be involved in development and implementation”.

Matthews added that this “must be coupled with appropriate safeguards, and time and resources provided to train staff up on new systems, alongside clear lines of accountability and safety measures to protect patients”.

He added: “Starting off with no real consultation with workforce representatives is a poor beginning to a complex journey.”

Elsewhere, SIPTU’s Kevin Figgis remarked: “There is no doubt AI technology has potential in human healthcare but it should not be at the risk of the essential nature of human lead and delivered direct patient care by the members we represent.”

Meanwhile, Fórsa’s Ashley Connolly stated that unions have since sought an “urgent meeting with the HSE’s Chief Technology Officer Damien McCallion to discuss the implementation of AI policy within the public health service. 

“Any advancement of AI initiatives must be accompanied by appropriate protections to ensure that patient care remains safeguarded through effective human oversight,” said Connolly.