Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has shared progress toward its aim of becoming “the most innovation-friendly trust in the country”, highlighting work around ambient AI, its digital front door, and eHospital.
As part of establishing an “enabling environment” for innovation, the trust has deployed a secure Microsoft Azure cloud environment to facilitate data-driven product development. It has also launched the Newton’s Tree AI deployment platform to support AI rollout into live care and research settings, and developed a clinical data science unit to offer data pipelines and specialist analytics for research and innovation.
An AI steering group has been created, according to CUH, and a trust-wide AI policy has been published along with evaluation frameworks and usage guidelines. “The trust is also enhancing support offers for inventors, formalising collaboration templates, and developing communications to make innovation pathways more visible to staff and partners,” it shares. “Across all these areas, the innovation team is working to connect and support CUH staff, academic partners and industry to accelerate the adoption of solutions that deliver measurable improvements in quality, productivity, and patient experience.”
CUH is reportedly continuing to lead on the integration of the NHS App with the Epic MyChart patient portal, and work is ongoing with partners to use OPTICA, part of the Federated Data Platform, to support complex discharge, with implementation to be completed by the end of 2025. Statistics on uptake of MyChart show that around 73 percent of patients who attend outpatient appointments now have an account.
The trust’s digital front door, an initial clinical signposting tool using an algorithm, for the emergency department went live in September. For outpatients, the implementation of the tool is still underway, with 65 percent of specialties due to be covered by the end of 2025/26, to increase clinic utilisation and reduce administrative burden.
Progress continues to be made around CUH’s command centre, with pilot wards having gone paperless with digital ward boards in July, and the Transfer Centre going live this month. An ambient voice pilot is underway looking at improving documentation, clinical productivity, and patient experience. Microsoft Copilot licences have also been allocated to targeted staff groups, with plans to evaluate impact in terms of efficiency gains in administrative workflows.
Another area of focus for digital and eHospital has been on ensuring contracts are in place for critical tech such as CUH’s EPR and outsourced IT support. Access to the Cambridge and Peterborough Shared Care Record was enabled earlier this year, and the trust’s digital teams are reportedly working to ensure information from CUH is available within the solution.
Wider trend: ambient voice
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. The self-certified registry will reportedly 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.
Join HTN and a panel of experts from across the health and care sector on the 18 November, 10:00 – 11:00am, for a deep dive into the practicalities of Ambient Scribe technology. We’ll be joined by Lauren Riddle, transformation programme manager, HIoW; Ynez Symonds, CNIO, HIoW; Dr Dom Pimenta MD. co-founder & chief executive officer, Tortus AI; and Dr Stuart Kyle, consultant rheumatologist and clinical lead for outpatient transformation, Royal Devon University Hospital. Register here.
Digital Health and Care Wales is 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”.
Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB has announced plans to procure an ambient voice/dictation tool to serve a patient population of around 1.6 million people in the region. The ICB aims to use the solution to help “reduce clinical burden, improve documentation accuracy and give time back to patient care”. According to a LinkedIn post by Mark Singleton, chief digital and information officer at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, it will be the “largest AVT (Ambient Voice Technology) procurement in NHS history”.
