Who is doing clinical language technology in the UK, and what is missing?
We mapped the UK landscape of clinical natural language processing by starting from the funded projects, and set out who is involved, what they build, and what holds the field back.
The question
Much of what happens in a patient’s care is written down as free text. Language technology that can read it is advancing fast, but nobody had drawn a clear picture of the UK field: who funds it, who does it, and what stands in the way.
What we did
We took an unusual route. We started by finding the relevant funded projects and pulling out the connections between them. Then we analysed the research community and reviewed the literature. We described who the key players are, what the technologies, applications, diseases and datasets are, where the community and its technology maturity stand, and where the gaps are. Our discussion went beyond the UK, including a comparison of technology, data and regulation with the United States.
What we found
The survey gives a map of the funders, universities, companies and researchers involved, and names the barriers that keep language technology from reaching its full potential in health care.
Why it matters
A shared map helps funders, researchers and health services see where to invest and collaborate. It is a key output of the HDR UK National Text Analytics Project.