NHS clinicians will be supported in using innovative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, designed to reduce bureaucracy, assist with note-taking, and free up staff time, enabling them to deliver better care to patients, following the publication of new government guidance.
The new guidance will encourage the use of these products – which use speech technologies and generative AI to convert spoken words into structured medical notes and letters – across a range of primary and secondary care settings, including hospitals and GP surgeries.
One of the tools – ambient voice technologies (AVTs) – can transcribe patient-clinician conversations, create structured medical notes, and draft patient letters.
The NHS England funded, London-wide AVT work, led by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, has evaluated AVT capabilities across a range of clinical settings – Adult Outpatients, Primary Care, Paediatrics, Mental Health, Community care, A+E and across London Ambulance Service.
Interim trial data shows that the AI technology has dramatically reduced admin, and meant more people could be seen in A&E, clinicians could spend more time during an appointment focusing on the patient, and appointments were shorter.
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