University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group (UHN) have jointly procured AI-powered technology to capture and record clinician-patient consultations.
The UHL-UHN Group has announced Accurx as the provider for the largest rollout of Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) in secondary care.
The technology securely captures consultations and can automatically draft clinical notes, summaries, and letters, which are then reviewed by clinicians to ensure accuracy and completeness before being sent to patients or other healthcare professionals.
The programme will see more than 10,000 clinicians across acute and community hospitals gain access to the technology as part of the Group’s commitment to the use of safe and ethical AI. All voice data is processed securely in accordance with clinical and safety standards, and the pilot is being conducted under robust governance that takes into account NHS England guidance.
UHL chief medical information officer, Dr Jeremy Tong, said: “Ambient Voice Technology will directly benefit patients across Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Leicester, and Rutland, by enabling clinicians to dedicate more time and energy to caring and communicating, and less to administrative tasks. This transformation is clinically led, digitally enabled, and operationally delivered, and that approach has been central to our work throughout.
“Following our successful pilot, clinicians told us AVT enabled them to use their time more effectively to focus on patient care, so they could complete referrals or carry out telephone appointments in the knowledge that information would be sent to patients more quickly. It also gave them more confidence when speaking with a patient, because they knew the AVT was capturing key information.”
Group chief digital information officer for UHL-UHN, Will Monaghan, commented: “As members of the Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network (TRAIN), we put a high priority on ensuring the safety of patient data, the accuracy of information recorded, and the importance of human oversight when working with AI systems. The results from the pilot, Accurx’s track record on safety and governance and the strong integration of staff feedback made the case compelling.
“We are excited to be sharing our learnings and leading on the roll out of this cutting-edge technology, which has transformative potential for the way we work. We are also working closely with administrative colleagues to support them during the roll-out, recognising this new technology will change the way we work as an organisation.”
