News release overview
Newly developed support system for link workers enhances quality of support for residents by streamlining the interview process with generative AI
Pilot project to begin in Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture with the goal of building a healthy, sustainable, future-oriented society by mainstreaming social prescribing.
Figure 1. The basic framework of the support system for link workers
Tokyo, August 27, 2025 – Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501, “Hitachi”) and Niigata University have developed a support system for link workers,*1 utilizing speech recognition and generative AI, with the goal of deploying social prescribing*2 across multiple communities. Social prescribing is a means of supporting residents’ health needs by leveraging community resources. To validate the system’s effectiveness, the new support system will be deployed on a trial basis in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, starting September 1, 2025, as part of the municipality’s specific health guidance program.
The system assists link workers (such as public health nurses) in preparing reports on their interviews with residents. Specifically, it converts these interviews to text in real time. It then instantly organizes and summarizes the information required for recommending community resources, including state of health, living conditions, and the type of support sought, on an item-by-item basis. The system thus streamlines link workers’ tasks and ensures that no information is missed during interviews. Further, based on the summarized and organized interviews and available data on use of community resources, it identifies potentially useful community resources tailored to residents’ needs and wishes, performing searches and showing the results in dialog format.
The trial rollout in Tokamachi will lead to further improvements in functionality; the system will then be deployed in other communities. Meanwhile, steps will be taken to implement and mainstream social prescribing in the areas of health, medical care, long-term care, and welfare, contributing to building a healthy, sustainable, future-oriented society.
*1 Link worker: A person whose job is to connect people requiring support with government or privately run community programs and services (community resources) that meet residents’ health needs.
*2 Social prescribing: A system that “prescribes” linkages with community resources to residents, rather than prescribing medication, as a means of solving their health challenges. In a broad sense, the term encompasses the use of fitness clubs as part of health guidance programs, access to grassroots community hubs in the preventive long-term care field, and other such initiatives.
