According to new research by Appian, the NHS is the most trusted organisation for responsible AI use, ranking higher than any other public or private sector organisation.
Over 63 per cent of respondents trust the NHS in the use of AI in public services – the only public sector body with a net trust over 50 per cent.
The 2026 UK Public Sector AI Adoption Outlook, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Appian, polled 1,000 public sector workers and 1,000 members of the public. It found that fewer than half of British citizens trust central government (39 per cent) or local councils (44 per cent) to use AI responsibly. The NHS also ranks higher than consumer-facing organisations, including banks (55 per cent), retailers (60 per cent), and technology companies (54 per cent).
While trust in the NHS to use AI responsibility is high, comfort with specific AI use cases is more mixed. Over half of public sector workers (56 per cent) say they are comfortable with AI analysing NHS scans and diagnostics, compared with just 40 per cent of citizens sharing that sentiment.
Despite this public trust, there are relatively low levels of organisational readiness within the NHS, with just six per cent of respondents working in healthcare describing their organisation as ‘fully able’ to leverage AI.
Peter Corpe, industry leader, UK public sector at Appian, said: “The NHS is widely seen by both public sector workers and citizens as the area of public services most trusted and likely to benefit from AI. To bridge the delivery gap, healthcare leaders must avoid the temptation of ‘shiny new toys’ and instead look to improve the patient journey with AI embedded in core processes to give it purpose, guardrails and goals and make it effective, safe and measurable.
“AI delivers when it’s given a job inside a governed process which moves it beyond experimentation into integrated, measurable programmes. The advice is clear to healthcare leaders: give AI the right data, guardrails and purpose, and organisations will deliver outcomes that are safe, auditable and easier for the public to get behind. The key is to start with the process and embed AI within it.”
