How Cera's Healthcare AI Agents Help Nurses, Hospitals and Carers
Cera is rolling out nearly 1,000 AI care agents across its 10,000-strong workforce. The goal is simple: take admin off the plate of frontline teams and move care decisions forward faster.
These agents collect information, make decisions using reasoning and memory, and act on tasks like recruitment, rota cover and quality reviews. The outcome is quicker access to care, better continuity and less pressure on coordinators, nurses and carers.
What's being deployed-and why it matters
- AI Recruitment Agent (Ami): Handles initial interviews across ~500,000 annual applications. Cera reports doubled recruitment volumes and faster hiring, easing workforce gaps.
- AI Care Coordinator Agent: Halves time spent organising last-minute cover so human coordinators can focus on medical and quality needs.
- Field Care Supervisor Agent: Syncs clinical data into actionable summaries, cutting care review time by 85% and supporting continuous supervision, spot checks and reviews.
- AI Retention Agent: Flags staff at risk of leaving and intervenes up to seven times faster than human teams, contributing to retention improvements of up to 22%.
These sit alongside carer chatbots, training avatars and predictive analytics that Cera says reduce falls by 20% and prevent over half of avoidable hospitalisations.
Voices from the frontline
"Our AI Agents remove paperwork so carers can get back to caring," says Dr Ben Maruthappu MBE, Founder and CEO of Cera. "By automating repetitive tasks, we're enabling carers, nurses and coordinators to focus on what truly matters: care quality, health outcomes and human connection."
On the ground, the impact is tangible. "We've now got time to ring clients, find out how care is going, fix issues and chase doctors and district nurses instead of spending hours of each day on admin tasks like organising cover," says Lucy Kruyer, Registered Manager at Cera Colchester.
Why hospitals and community teams should care
- Faster discharge and step-down: Quicker rostering and onboarding help move patients home sooner, which frees beds and reduces escalation risk.
- Fewer avoidable admissions: Predictive insights, structured reviews and faster follow-up reduce falls and flag deterioration earlier.
- Stronger continuity: Coordinators spend more time on clinical coordination and family communication, less on phone tag.
Licensing beyond Cera
Cera is making several agents available to other health and care organisations. For a sector carrying persistent vacancies and high turnover, this supports scale without adding more admin burden.
For context on workforce pressures, see Skills for Care's analysis of adult social care staffing needs here.
What this changes for your daily workflow
- Recruitment: AI screens and schedules at scale, so managers spend time on high-signal interviews, not inbox triage.
- Rostering and cover: Agents propose options based on availability, travel, skills and continuity, cutting back-and-forth calls.
- Care reviews and QA: Clinical data is summarised into actions; supervisors can do more supervisions and spot checks with less paperwork.
- Retention and supervision: Early risk flags prompt timely check-ins, training nudges and rota adjustments that keep good staff.
Guardrails that matter
- Human-in-the-loop: Keep clinical judgment with nurses and registered managers; use agents to prep, not to replace care decisions.
- Data governance: Confirm data processing agreements, audit trails and role-based access. Ensure compliance with NHS DSPT and local IG policies.
- Equity and quality: Monitor outcomes (falls, readmissions, response times) by cohort to spot bias or drift.
How to trial AI agents in your organisation
- Pick one pain point: Recruitment screening, last-minute cover or care review prep are good starting points.
- Define clear KPIs: Time-to-hire, fill-rate for short-notice shifts, review turnaround, falls rate, recontact time after alerts.
- Run a small pilot: 4-6 weeks in a single branch or ward; compare baseline vs. pilot metrics.
- Integrate pragmatically: Connect to rostering, EHR/care plans and messaging tools you already use.
- Train and communicate: Show staff what the agent does, what it doesn't, and where human sign-off is required.
- Iterate fast: Collect feedback weekly; adjust prompts, thresholds and escalation rules.
The bottom line
The care backlog won't be solved by working harder. Offloading routine admin to reliable agents gives nurses, coordinators and carers the time and headspace to focus on safety, outcomes and human connection-where their skill makes the most difference.
Upskilling your team on practical AI
If you're building capability across clinical ops, recruitment or quality teams, explore role-based AI training options here.
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