TL;DR

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is preparing to procure an AI-driven digital physiotherapy service designed as a full alternative — not a complement — to traditional musculoskeletal (MSK) care pathways. The trust wants a UK-based supplier to take clinical and operational responsibility for the whole patient journey, from referral and diagnostic triage through to personalised treatment and discharge, with AI as the primary driver of care. A formal contract notice is expected on 4 May 2026.

The specification, and what it signals

Kent is asking for something materially more ambitious than most NHS AI pilots to date. The specification requires a hybrid model — AI-led physiotherapy appointments backed up by virtual access to HCPC-registered physiotherapists — and the underlying AI must be certified as a Class IIa medical device under the UK MDR 2002. The supplier must hold Care Quality Commission registration and provide 24/7 triage and diagnosis. The contract begins with a three-to-six-month pilot and may extend to three years.

Two details matter. First, the procurement is being run under the Healthcare Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, not the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or the Procurement Act 2023 — meaning the trust can select on overall value and service continuity rather than lowest price, which reflects how seriously it is taking clinical judgement over cost. Second, the Class IIa requirement acts as a filter: only suppliers that have already cleared medical device regulation need apply.

How it fits the pattern

Kent’s move sits alongside today’s other UK health AI stories — the Oxford heart-failure tool seeking NHS approval, NIHR’s £1.5 million Leeds diagnostics award and the MHRA’s £3.6 million AI Airlock expansion. The unifying thread is that NHS trusts are no longer running AI as innovation theatre; they are buying it as front-line service delivery, with the regulatory and contractual scaffolding that implies.

Looking forward

The 4 May notice will reveal the shortlist of suppliers actually capable of meeting this bar. If Kent’s pilot succeeds, expect other integrated care boards with MSK backlogs to follow — and expect pressure on the handful of vendors that currently hold Class IIa approvals to scale delivery fast.