Six UK hospitals partner with SickKids AI program to advance paediatric care using AI

From long emergency wait times to growing system pressures, paediatric hospitals around the world are facing similar challenges. Six hospitals from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) are partnering with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada, through its Artificial Intelligence program, SKAI, to tackle some of the biggest challenges in paediatric health care using AI. The collaboration, officially launched through a visit to SickKids from February 24 to 26, will establish a formal, two-way exchange of expertise, ideas and solutions using AI to improve care for children and youth in Canada and the UK.

“By working together on common challenges, like wait times in paediatric emergency medicine, we can accelerate progress, share what works, and ultimately have a greater impact — not just in our respective countries but beyond our respective borders,” says Dr. Devin Singh, Emergency Medicine Physician and Co-Lead of SKAI Service. “AI gives us a powerful way to support clinical teams, anticipate demand and help ensure patients get the right care at the right time.”

As part of the launch of the collaboration, senior leaders from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in Bristol, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, and Sheffield Children's Hospital in Sheffield visited Toronto to meet with the SKAI team. The visit also included the British Consul General, Fouzia Younis and builds on an earlier visit by the British High Commissioner to Canada in late 2025.

“UK and Canada are at our strongest when we innovate together to deliver for our people. A bond as close as ours doesn’t just reflect shared values — it saves lives,” says Fouzia Younis MBE, British Consul General in Toronto. “This new agreement between SickKids Hospital and six UK NHS paediatric units is that partnership in action — combining our expertise to deliver first class, technology enabled, health care for our children.”

On February 25, the group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing a shared commitment to create new, sustainable pathways for sharing and adapting AI models across institutions, as well as enabling collective problem-solving on shared priority challenges to improve care for patients and families. As part of the collaboration, SickKids will welcome clinicians, leaders, trainees from the UK to gain hands-on experience through the SKAI Service and learn alongside SickKids clinical teams in different specialty areas of paediatric medicine.

“International collaborations like this allow us to accelerate and amplify our efforts in using AI to tackle the greatest challenges in children's health,” says Jeff Mainland, Executive Vice President, SickKids. “The impact of these efforts can be used to improve health outcomes for children right here in Ontario and across the country.”

During the visit, delegates toured the SickKids Emergency Department (ED), where AI is increasingly becoming an important tool to support patient flow and care delivery. The tour provided a closer look at how AI tools in the ED are helping clinicians identify patient needs earlier and streamline decision-making in a complex and high-pressure environment. The group also visited SickKids’ Simulation Centre to explore how simulation can support the safe, ethical and effective translation of AI models into clinical practice.

The collaboration reflects growing international recognition of SKAI’s leadership in applying AI to paediatric care, particularly through the SKAI Service—one of the most comprehensive health-care AI services in Canada, which provides the expertise and oversight needed to translate AI innovation into real-world clinical settings in a safe, ethical, and responsible way.