Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust started its roll out of Lyrebird Health ambient voice technology last week, initially in the emergency department, gastroenterology and gynaecology outpatients.
The trust has been working in partnership with other South West London trusts and the SWL Acute Provider Collaborative to introduce AVT, the board noted earlier this year.
A second phase of the roll out is also planned, to include more outpatient specialties and community services, followed by other clinical areas, Kingston and Richmond shares. Deployment is being coordinated with partner organisations across the region to promote consistency in approach.
According to the trust, the decision to take a phased approach to AVT roll out is based on learning from an earlier pilot of the tech in ten specialties last year, which demonstrated the potential for it to be used in reducing admin burden and releasing time to care. “This programme is an important part of our longer-term digital ambitions to modernise how we work and support high-quality, sustainable care,” the board states.
“It will be overseen by colleagues from information governance, data security and clinical safety, ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place throughout. Further updates will be shared as plans continue to develop.”
Kingston and Richmond also updates on its introduction of a new digital dashboard offering a real-time view of patient information taken directly from its clinical record system, following a successful pilot on two wards. The dashboard is currently being rolled out across all inpatient wards to help support safer clinical decision-making, collaborative care, and discharge planning.
Wider trend: AVT
In a recent meeting, the board of South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust highlighted digital in supporting mental health pathways, including the use of ambient voice technology in giving back time to care, and virtual reality for children and young people’s emotional wellbeing. Ambient voice technology will be piloted for admin work, it shares, and automated information sharing will let schools check in and consider support options for children from their setting. A pilot of extended reality as an intervention for young people presenting with anxiety or emotion-related school avoidance is continuing, and the trust is now focusing on improvements following the digitisation of neurodevelopmental screening processes.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has published guidance to clarify how the medical devices regulations apply to ambient voice technology in health and care. MHRA notes that some AVT solutions qualify as a medical device and confirms some “AVT products that are intended solely for transcription, summarising of clinical conversations, drafting letters, or suggesting clinical codes for a clinician to review are not regulated as medical devices under the current framework”. The body goes on to recommend that “users of such AVT products should carefully consider what information and practices are needed to ensure safe deployment”.
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has utilised a virtual worker in ITU, improved discharge summaries, optimised its EPR and refreshed core infrastructure, its board discussed last month. The trust highlighted ambitions to identify and digitise paper-based processes, to make the best use of existing digital solutions, and to identify new tech or suppliers that can help transform services. It notes progress with short and medium-term planning for digital investment, including reinvestment in RPA in ITU services and the procurement of AVT in outpatients and ED. Improvements to core EPRs have enabled better patient discharge workflows, including the introduction of the Manchester triage workflow, and the roll out of a mobile working solution for community staff, the trust adds.
