Microsoft has launched its Dragon Copilot clinical AI assistant in the UK, following testing across seven UK healthcare organisations including Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Copilot combines the speech recognition capabilities of Dragon Medical One with the ambient listening capabilities of Dragon Ambient eXperience, and Microsoft’s generative AI. The result, it states, “is a single integrated tool that captures clinical conversations, drafts documentation, assists with follow ups, and can be easily integrated into existing electronic patient records systems”.
The tool has been certified as a Class 1 medical device by the MHRA, and tested by more than 200 clinicians in a range of specialties as part of a private preview programme involving over 10,000 consultations, Microsoft states. In the US, reported outcomes include a saving of five minutes per patient encounter, a 70 percent reduction in “feelings of burnout” from clinicians, and 93 percent of patients reporting a better overall experience.
Henry Morriss, emergency physician and director of clinical informatics at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, noted: “The main benefit of using ambient voice is simply that it takes your voice and your relationship with the patient, and delivers it in a method you can easily see and edit. I spend a lot of time speaking to patients to try and work out what’s wrong. Without ambient, I’ve got to go back to the desk and type that up. And as I come to type, I realise, I’ve forgotten quite a lot of that. With ambient, I get back and there it is. It’s made me get diagnostic answers quicker.”
“Dragon Copilot is transforming the healthcare landscape by assisting with time-consuming administrative tasks – such as documentation, referrals, and after-visit summaries – freeing up valuable time for patient care,” adds Jacob West, managing director, healthcare & life sciences, Microsoft UK. “By streamlining workflows and embedding into electronic patient records, Dragon Copilot not only boosts operational efficiency, it also supports clinician wellbeing and retention. It’s an important component in the effort to build a more resilient and compassionate healthcare system across the NHS and beyond.”
Microsoft first launched Dragon Copilot in March of this year, highlighting its foundations in “responsible AI”, sharing that its capabilities are “built on a secure data estate” and incorporate “healthcare-specific clinical, chat, and compliance safeguards for accurate and safe AI outputs”. It was also featured as part of the NHS.net Connect roadmap, which outlines plans for functionality, identity and security, Copilot adoption, Intune enhancements and more for 2025 and beyond.
Wider trend: Ambient AI
In a recent HTN Now session, we were joined by experts from across the health and care sector, including Dr Shanker Vijayadeva, GP, NHS England (London region); Rhod Joyce, deputy director of digital transformation, NHS England; Dr Dom Pimenta M.D., co-founder & chief executive officer, Tortus AI; Dr Hannah Allen, chief medical officer, Heidi Health; and Dr Andrew Whiteley, managing director, Lexacom. Our panellists discussed some of the practicalities and key considerations to take into account when it comes to using ambient scribe technology in primary care and general practice. This meant delving into the risks, evidence, compliance, and how to move forward.
Digital Health and Care Wales are conducting a market discovery exercise to explore the ambient voice technology solutions currently available and capable of meeting the needs of general practice and primary care throughout the region. The general medical services team within DHCW have outlined one key objective, aiming to gather market intelligence that will better inform their approach and “empower GP practices to use ambient scribe tools to drive general practice efficiencies and enhance patient care”.
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is piloting ambient voice technology from TORTUS, with an aim to support administrative tasks and reduce the time it takes to produce medical notes. The trust has also this month upgraded its MY CARE patient portal platform, introducing digital appointment reminders, appointment confirmation, pre-appointment information and tasks and appointment cancellation requests for northern services, where text messages and emails will be utilised alongside the platform.
