The Christie NHS Foundation Trust has shared updates on its use of ambient voice technology, offering an insight into how it is being used to support the patient experience.
Earlier this year, the trust reported that a technical validation had been completed, with a phased roll out of the technology beginning with surgery and haematology in January 2026. “The AVT solution is based on an upgraded version of existing digital dictation product (Epro),” it noted.
The AVT programme has followed a coordinated roll out across priority use cases, according to The Christie, focusing on improving clinical efficiency, documentation quality, and patient experience. It also has plans to extend beyond outpatients to areas including MDTs, board rounds, virtual clinics, and emerging automations, with early scoping work being done with suppliers such as Microsoft Dragon, UiPath, and Cisco. Clinical teams are involved in the design of accompanying templates, prompts, and operational workflows.
Sharing a patient story, the trust highlights improvements to patient experience resulting from the use of AVT to produce post-consultation clinic letters on the same day as appointments. Patient Ivan McKeever spoke of being “impressed” to receive the letter before leaving the clinic, adding: “Normally you leave with a lot of verbal information to take in and then wait for the letter to arrive a week or so later. Having it straight away meant everything was fresh in my mind. It was reassuring to be able to read through what had been discussed even before I got home and know exactly what the next steps were.”
Consultant haematologist Faye Sharpley acknowledged initially finding the technology “daunting”, stating: “The first time can feel like a big step, but you learn very quickly by using it in a real clinic environment. Once you’ve done a couple of clinics, it starts to feel much more natural.” Providing documentation to patients sooner helps support conversations with family members and carers, she continued, and whilst clinicians still review everything before it is shared, AVT can “significantly reduce” time spent on clinical documentation.
Wider trend: AVT
The North West London Acute Provider Group has shared its intent to procure an ambient voice technology solution, launching a market engagement opportunity. The group, covering Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; estimates that a future contract for the solution will run from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2030, a total of three years.
Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust has begun its rollout of Lyrebird Health AVT, 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 rollout 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.
Digital Health and Care Wales is launching a £10 million open framework agreement for 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.
