As the growing demand for healthcare continues to strain the Dutch system, medical institutions in Groningen and beyond are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to relieve pressure on personnel and improve care, RTV Noord reports. The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and regional general practitioners say AI can help make healthcare more personal, accurate, and efficient—though ethical, legal, and logistical challenges remain.
“We’ve actually been working on this for ten years, but in recent years, it has really gained momentum,” Bart Scheerder, who leads AI development at UMCG, told RTV Noord. “We saw its rise and immediately thought: this is a key technology.”
UMCG already uses several AI applications, including one where patients can submit online questions to a doctor. AI drafts a reply, which the physician can then edit. “That can save time in the long run,” Scheerder added.
AI is also being used to improve the readability and customization of letters sent to patients. “The value of tailored communication is extremely high,” Scheerder told RTV Noord. “We’re not going to solve capacity problems with it, but it does make a fundamental contribution.”
UMCG now faces the task of integrating AI into its operations. “We are currently navigating how it can land in our organization,” Scheerder told the newspaper. Key challenges reportedly include patient privacy, liability, and compliance with healthcare regulations.
In an effort to keep data within the region and reduce reliance on overseas tech giants, the European Union supports the establishment of local “AI factories”—supercomputers that train algorithms using local data. One such facility is being considered in Groningen, at the former Niemeyer factory in Stad.
UMCG strongly supports the plan. “It would be helpful to have expertise nearby. We’d have secure and reliable information close at hand,” Scheerder told RTV Noord.
AI isn’t just transforming hospitals. General practitioners in the region are also exploring how the technology can enhance patient interaction. One tool now in use records and transcribes consultations, automatically entering a summary into the patient’s file. “That saves a lot of administrative time,” Jaap Euwema, a family doctor and representative of GP association DokNoord, which focuses on digital innovation in healthcare, told RTV Noord.
According to Euwema, rather than making care more distant, AI helps create more human interaction. “Because the doctor no longer has to keep looking at the screen to type, they can really focus on the patient and look them in the eye. It makes the work more enjoyable.”
The lack of oversight on where patient data is stored—often in the U.S. or China—remains a major concern. A local AI factory could address this, according to Albert Boonstra, a professor specializing in healthcare technology.
“Even then, we will need clear rules,” Boonstra told RTV Noord. “Because even locally, data could disappear into a void. But maybe that’s a little more reassuring. The data belongs to the patient. That must also be safeguarded in AI models, regardless of where they are located.”
According to Marc Somberg of healthcare software company ChipSoft, the healthcare sector has been slow to adopt new technologies. “It wasn’t that long ago that we finally got rid of the fax machine,” he told RTV Noord. “It will take time before AI is widely applied.”
Somberg added that AI is already outperforming humans in some areas. “When you’re dealing with large numbers of images, like in population screenings, AI can be more reliable than humans—because it doesn’t get tired.”
Still, it is not error-free. “Say you analyze 10,000 images and the system makes a few mistakes—who takes responsibility?” said Boonstra. “In some hospitals, AI is only used when a doctor has doubts.”
This lack of clarity about responsibility is one of several ethical concerns. Somberg believes AI is best used as a tool to assist rather than replace doctors. “It makes your work better and supports you, but it doesn’t take over your job,” he told RTV Noord.
Proper implementation is also a challenge. “Often the focus is on the innovation itself, not on how it fits into the existing infrastructure,” Somberg added. “You need things that actually work and will be used.”
Frank Blaauw of AI firm Researchable, which is affiliated with the University of Groningen, told RTV Noord that Groningen is well positioned to innovate. “People have to be willing to work with it, otherwise it’s useless. But in Groningen, I’m not too worried.”
“There is generally a lot of data available at companies, and we make sure it ends up in the right place,” said Blaauw. His company works on applications ranging from improving athletic performance and visualizing pharmaceutical residues in water to personalizing cancer treatments.
“With AI, you can do so much more than people realize. I think healthcare is very cool, and as a healthcare worker, you want to deliver care—not fill out paperwork,” Blaauw told RTV Noord. “We’re just scratching the surface.”
ChipSoft is now looking into using AI to manage staffing schedules. “Some treatments follow a fixed path. AI can calculate how busy a department will get and help plan accordingly,” Somberg said.
To streamline the use of AI in healthcare across the region, UMCG wants to play a coordinating role. “We need to develop systems that allow both the hospital specialist and the local GP to join easily and at a low threshold,” Scheerder told RTV Noord.