People to get NHS health advice using Amazon Alexa
People will be able to get expert health advice using Amazon Alexa devices, under a partnership with the NHS, the government has announced.
From this week, the voice-assisted technology is automatically searching the official NHS website when UK users ask for health-related advice.
The government in England said it could reduce demand on the NHS.
Privacy campaigners have raised data protection concerns but Amazon say all information will be kept confidential.
The use of voice search is on the increase and is seen as particularly beneficial to vulnerable patients, such as elderly people and those with visual impairment, who may struggle to access the internet through more traditional means.
Under the partnership, Amazon’s algorithm uses information from the NHS website to provide answers to questions such as, “How do I treat a migraine?” and, “What are the symptoms of chickenpox?”