Plans for the roll out of ambient voice technology and a new EPR have been shared in the most recent meeting of Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust’s board.
The trust is working in partnership with other South West London trusts and the SWL Acute Provider Collaborative to introduce AVT to tackle admin burden and enable clinicians to spend more time with patients, the board notes. Plans in development are to proceed with a phased introduction of the tech across clinical services in the coming months, starting with ED and outpatient gastroenterology and gynaecology. Phase two will then move to include more outpatient specialties and community services, followed by other clinical areas, it shares.
According to Kingston and Richmond, the decision to take a phased approach to AVT roll out is based on learning from an earlier pilot of the tech in outpatient clinics. “This programme is an important part of our longer-term digital ambitions to modernise how we work and support high-quality, sustainable care,” it 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.”
The trust is also working in partnership with Croydon Health Services on a new EPR system. As part of planning, a survey was conducted with staff, receiving over 250 responses on key requirements for the system, including the need to work across different digital tools, a faster response time, and being intuitive to use. Next steps, the board suggests, are carrying out workshops, and delivering a business case for procurement and implementation.
The board assurance framework shares further details on challenges and mitigations around the trust’s digital maturity and current digital capabilities. A focus is on the integration of IM&T teams and systems, working under a new, singular digital strategy, it highlights. The board also points to key risks, however, around a lack of system functionality. “KRFT suffers from a complex array of unreliable, non-compatible and under-supported systems (many of which are obsolete / not linked to the main EPR system) with sub-optimal functionality, requiring multiple manual workarounds,” it explains.
Also published as part of the board papers is the trust’s draft people strategy, which commits to the delivery of a core digital literacy programme covering AI, data quality, cyber, and benefits realisation for all Band 8a roles and above in year one. Years two and three will then focus on embedding digital objectives into personal development plans and appraisal for clinical and operational leaders, “making digital accountability a standard leadership expectation”.
Wider trend: AVT
HTN was joined for a deep dive into ambient voice technology by a fantastic panel including Wahida Jabarzai, clinical AI and automation delivery lead at University Hospitals of Northamptonshire and University Hospitals of Leicester; and Ravinder Kaur Sahota, group CIO at The Dudley Group and Sandwell and West Birmingham. Our panel shared their learnings, experiences, and insights from AVT projects, covering clinical impact, risks, coding, governance, regulation, assurance, through to implementation, value, benefits realisation, and sustainability.
Guidance for healthcare and information governance professionals on the use of ambient scribe technology has launched, covering checks to be made before use, consent, transparency, checking for accuracy, the lawful basis for processing of data, record retention and storage, and more. It notes that healthcare professionals should check whether the AI product they wish to use has been approved by their organisation, and what rules should be followed for its use to ensure legal requirements and regulatory guidelines are adhered to.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB has awarded a contract worth £87,500 to Beam Up Ltd, for its ambient scribing and reporting tool. The contract, awarded as a call-off from a framework agreement, is set to run for one year, ending in March 2027. The solution, Magic Notes, is an AI-powered information and meeting summarisation tool with ambient transcribing capabilities, designed to support healthcare professionals. It is registered as a Class 1 medical device, with Beam Up Ltd listed on NHS England’s approved register of ambient voice technology suppliers.
