Digital Health and Care Wales is launching a £10 million open framework agreement for ambient voice technology (AVT) solutions, aiming to support the adoption of tech to improve clinical documentation processes.
The agreement is intended to maintain a “pre-qualified list” of AVT suppliers, who will have to meet conditions enabling their participation and achieve a minimum evaluation threshold.
According to DHCW, AVT solutions could include ambient voice capture, speech-to-text transcription, generative AI summarisation, suggested structured clinical coding, intelligent summarisation, automated template population, review and approval workflows, integration with GP systems, and insights and reporting.
Award criteria includes price, quality [split up into AI performance, safety and data, clinical functionality and safety, implementation support and operations, regulatory compliance and governance, and technical architecture and integration], and social value.
Contracting authorities that are expected to use the framework include Welsh health boards, general medical services providers, Health Education and Improvement Wales, DHCW, and Public Health Wales.
The framework will commence in December 2026 and run to December 2029, following which DHCW states it may award a successive framework agreement with a term of up to four years, taking it to December 2034. DHCW acknowledges that the estimated framework value is based on current market pricing assumptions, and actual expenditure may exceed this total.
Tender submissions should be received by 16 September 2026, with an estimated award decision date of 30 November 2026.
Wider trend: AVT
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. Our panel discussed the practicalities and considerations for ambient scribe implementations, from operating procedures and policies, integration and functionality, through to best practices around patient-practitioner interactions.
The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has launched an investigation into the use of ambient voice technology (AVT) in hospitals, following engagement with stakeholders including representatives from national bodies that highlighted potential safety issues. The investigation looks to explore the ways in which the use of AVT has contributed, or may contribute to, patient harm, along with the wider patient safety risks of its use, and how accountability for AVT safety is understood on a local and national level.
NHS England’s Transformation Directorate has published a list of 19 suppliers who have evidenced the criteria required to be part of its self-certified Ambient Voice Technology registry – “a national capability to support safe and effective scaling and adoption of AVT across the health and care system”. The 19 suppliers include 33n, Accurx, Anathem, Aprobrium (Lexacom), Beam Up, Corti, Dictate IT, eConsult, HealthOrbit AI, Heidi Health, Lyrebird Health, Microsoft Dragon, Optum (EMIS), Pungo t/a Joy, Scribetech, Tandem, Tortus, T-Pro, and X-On Health.
