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Hackathon
PIONEERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN NURSING
The AI Nurses Network run a range of events each year to support nurses to develop and pioneer artificial intelligence techniques, models and tools in healthcare to improve patient care and population health. To find out more about our hackathon on artificial intelligence in nursing please see the information provided below. If you would like to sponsors a future AI Nurses Network Hackathon in a specific topic area please contact us on: ainurses@kcl.ac.uk
AI Nurses Network Hackathon 2025
At the inaugural AI Nurses Network Hackathon, creativity and collaboration took centre stage. On the 4th September 2025, nurses and artificial intelligence (AI) researchers and developers descended on King’s College London to spend the day brainstorming solutions to waiting times in the emergency department, a long-standing issue for the National Health Service (NHS).
Dr Ed Baker, a Consultant Nurse from King’s College Hospital, provided insights into the challenges with waiting times in emergency care such as high patient volumes with increasingly complex health problems and in-hospital bed demand and availability. This helped the teams think of different ways they could help address these problems using a range of AI techniques and AI tools.
“You don’t need to be a developer to take part in a hackathon, everyone has great ideas for using AI in the NHS” said Paulo a participating nurse from Moorfields Eye Hospital, underscoring the events inclusive nature.
The afternoon was spent building prototypes of AI-based solutions that might work before presenting these to a panel of judges including Dr Crina Grosan a machine learning expert from King’s College London and Professor Jo Armes a cancer nurse specialising in digital health from the University of Surrey. The teams went head-to-head to showcase their ideas, with the most feasible and impactful solutions winning prizes to support their development.
First prize of £1,000 went to a team who proposed leveraging AI based modelling to enhance real-time communication with people waiting in the emergency department, keeping them informed of their assessment and management while reducing the administrative burden on nursing staff. Second prize of £500 went to a team who wanted to enhance a new e-patient triage system with AI to promote accurate and efficient triage and the delivery of timely, personalised care. Other practical solutions included an AI-empowered workflow optimisation model for at home triage and workforce allocation, and an AI-enabled community nursing intervention to personalise preventative care, showing the potential of ambient AI to support community care to reduce avoidable attendance.
All those who took part went home with a goodie bag and a wealth of connections to take their ideas for AI in nursing forward. The event showcased what happens when inquisitive minds rally around AI: practical tools for healthcare, bold ideas, and a community-driven approach to problem-solving.
The hackathon was sponsored by King’s Together Fund.
