World Evidence-based Healthcare Day 2026
Exploring the use of AI in healthcare evidence.
Our Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) team have been exploring how to use AI to make evidence based advice more accessible.
Highlighting this work, led by SIGN Patient and Public Involvement Advisor Karen Graham and SIGN lead Roberta James, is one way we’re marking World Evidence-Based Healthcare Day.
World Evidence-Based Healthcare Day champions the important role evidence plays in healthcare. It is also an opportunity to consider how evidence based advice can be made easier for people to access, understand, and use.
This year’s theme explores how artificial intelligence (AI) could help make healthcare evidence more accessible, while maintaining the accuracy and trust essential to evidence-based practice.
Karen set up a pilot programme investigating how AI could help produce plain language versions of clinical guidelines more efficiently.
What we’re learning from the pilot
The pilot has shown that AI could enable our teams to produce initial plain language drafts more quickly. This could, in turn, support better use of the time public partners give when they volunteer and the lived experience they bring to reviewing and improving guidelines. It could also mean accessible versions of guidelines are available sooner after publication of the version for clinicians.
However, the pilot has also highlighted important limitations. AI-generated drafts can omit key information or introduce inaccuracies, so every draft must be carefully checked to ensure the final version is clear, accurate and faithful to the original guidance.
Roberta James said:
“One thing I’ve learned during my time at SIGN is that evidence only matters if people can actually understand it and use it. That’s why I’ve been really excited to see the team exploring how AI can help us create plain language summaries of clinical guidelines. For me, that’s where AI is at its best—not replacing people or expertise, but helping make trustworthy guidance easier for patients, carers, and healthcare professionals to access and make sense of. As AI becomes part of the way we work, I hope we use it to bring more people closer to evidence based guidance, not further away from it.”
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
The pilot is helping build a clearer understanding of how AI can be used to support this work, alongside the checks needed to ensure accuracy and quality. As we continue to learn, the priority will be to use these tools in ways that support access to robust guidance without compromising its accuracy or trustworthiness.