What the National Commission’s recommendations mean for you
How new recommendations could make healthcare AI safer, clearer and fairer for patients, professionals, providers and developers across the UK.
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Launched by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on 26 September 2025, National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare brought together global AI leaders, clinicians and regulators to advise on how the regulatory framework for AI in healthcare should evolve to be Safe, Fast and Trusted.
The mission of the National Commission was to help ensure that patients can benefit from safe and effective AI technologies, support the government’s ambition to make the NHS the most AI-enabled healthcare system in the world, and establish a globally competitive regulatory environment that attracts investment and supports innovation.
Patients and the public, healthcare professionals, healthcare providers and industry were central to this work. Through the Commission’s working groups, Call for Evidence, surveys, sector roundtables, public deliberation and extensive research and engagement, people and organisations across the UK were clear about the changes needed to support the safe and effective use of AI in healthcare.
On 10 September 2026, the National Commission published their report Recommendations for a future regulatory framework, which responds directly to these priorities. The report is accompanied by an Easy Read version and a Welsh translation of the executive summary. The National Commission’s central conclusion is that the regulation and assurance of AI in healthcare must become more proportionate, lifecycle-based and system-wide.
The Government has accepted these recommendations and will take a coordinated, UK-wide approach to implementation.
The following explainers set out what the recommendations could mean in practice for each group:
- Patients and the public: How the recommendations could support safer and fairer AI-enabled care, keep people at the heart of decisions, provide clearer information and strengthen opportunities to raise concerns and have a say in how AI is used in healthcare.
- Healthcare professionals: How the recommendations could provide better information and evidence about AI tools, support professional judgement, clarify responsibilities, strengthen training and make it easier to provide feedback and report concerns.
- Healthcare providers: How the recommendations could support better procurement decisions, provide clearer responsibilities for safe deployment, strengthen organisational readiness and support the safe management of AI throughout its use.
- Developers and manufacturers: How the recommendations could provide greater regulatory certainty, support safe product updates and real-world evidence, strengthen the route from regulation to adoption and clarify responsibilities across the product lifecycle.