X-on Health is pleased to announce a new partnership with Drinkaware, the UK’s leading alcohol education charity. Through our AI-enabled care navigation chatbot Surgery Assist, patients with alcohol-related concerns will now be signposted directly to Drinkaware’s trusted tools and resources.
Whether a patient mentions alcohol in relation to prescriptions, mental health or general wellbeing, Surgery Assist will recognise the query and direct them to Drinkaware content such as the Drinking Check, advice on how to moderate your drinking, or mental health guidance. This early, non-judgemental intervention ensures patients receive timely support while helping practices preserve clinical time for more complex needs.
This integration supports the NHS’s shift toward preventative, community-first care, as outlined in the ‘Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’. With alcohol-related hospital admissions in England estimated at over 1 million in 2023/241, alcohol remains a significant but often under-recognised driver of patient demand, from anxiety and sleep disruption to long-term harm.
“Supporting people to make informed choices about their drinking is our mission at Drinkaware. We are therefore delighted to be working with X-on Health and GP practices in this new initiative to signpost people to our tools and advice through the NHS digital front door. It is exactly the type of collaboration the NHS Ten Year plan envisages, using AI and digital tools to help GP surgeries reduce demand.”
Karen Tyrell, CEO at Drinkaware
Supporting patients and easing demand
Surgery Assist is Primary Care’s first NHS-approved digital care navigation assistant. Deployed across GP websites and phone systems, it empowers patients to self-serve and routes contacts to appropriate services, reducing call volumes and easing access pressures. At Poplar Grove Practice, the platform helped reduce annual calls by 25,000 and increase NHS App uptake by 4%.
System-agnostic and equipped with multilingual support, the digital assistant ensures inclusive access whether patients engage by phone, digital form or web. It also plays a key role in directing patients to self-care, pharmacy and other community services, making it an ideal host for partnerships like this.
“Primary care is the front door to the NHS and working to support the wider community is so important, aligning directly to the neighbourhood health aspirations of the NHS 10 Year Plan. We’re proud to partner with Drinkaware in this initiative and plan to introduce further approaches to support local communities in the future.”
Sharon Hanley, Director of Primary Care at X-on Health
Community signposting with safety at the helm
By embedding signposting into the first patient interaction, Surgery Assist enables earlier access to specialist support, reducing unnecessary appointments and filling gaps in local provision. With monthly reporting to track the volume and nature of referrals, triage pathways will be refined accordingly. All Surgery Assist pathways are reviewed by an independent Clinical Safety Officer (CSO), and updates can be made within 72 hours, or sooner if required, ensuring safe, responsive implementation.
This collaboration illustrates the growing role of intelligent triage in modernising access, alleviating pressure on primary care and improving outcomes through better-connected digital care.