East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust has published a pre-procurement notice for an ambient voice technology/scribe solution that can support clinical efficiency and help to reduce the administrative burden across the trust.
The request for information notes five key aims of the procurement: to enhance clinical efficiency, improve documentation accuracy, reduce clinical documentation, improve productivity and create more accurate medical coding. Suppliers must demonstrate how their ambient voice software can help to streamline workflows, reduce the administrative burden, provide precise and timely patient records and automate the coding process with compliancy and accuracy in mind.
The trust is currently in the “early stage of development and judging interest from potential suppliers”. As such, there is no deadline or value for the contact, however suppliers are encouraged to submit their responses by 12:00 on the 22 December 2025 through the Atamis portal.
Wider trend: ambient voice technology in health and care
NHS England is looking to create a supplier registry for ambient voice technology solutions, aiming to support buying authorities within the health and care sector when finding a compliant AI scribing tool. According to NHS England, the self-certified registry will provide a “transparent, centralised platform where AVT suppliers can self-declare compliance”. It will come with an accompanying resource library, with the aim of offering support for the procurement process, while also encouraging transparency around safety, data handling and performance.
Earlier in the year, NHSE also issued guidance on the use of AI-enabled ambient scribing products in health and care settings, to support chief information officers and chief clinical information officers when introducing this technology. The guidance aims to support business case development, risk assessments, governance, data protection impact assessments, and evaluation and monitoring. A key part of the framework covers a series of considerations, posing questions to clarify the product functionality, outputs for transcription, outputs for downstream tasks, and data and system considerations.
HTN was joined by a panel of experts from across the health sector for a focused webinar on the use of ambient scribe technology in NHS trusts. Panellists included Lauren Riddle, transformation programme manager at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare (HIoW); Ynez Symonds, CNIO at HIoW; Dom Pimenta, co-founder and CEO at Tortus AI; and Stuart Kyle, consultant rheumatologist and clinical lead for outpatient transformation at Royal Devon University Hospital.
