Digital Health and Care Wales has chosen to abandon its £10m ambient voice technology procurement, citing a “limited number of suppliers successfully meeting the Conditions of Participation requirements”.
The organisation launched the open framework agreement in August, aiming to support the adoption of the technology to improve clinical documentation processes. It shared its intent to use the exercise to maintain a “pre-qualified list” of AVT suppliers, with conditions enabling participation and the need to achieve a minimum evaluation threshold.
Award criteria set out at that time included 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. DHCW acknowledged that the estimated framework value was based on current market pricing assumptions, and actual expenditure may have exceeded this total.
Plans were for the framework to commence in December 2026 and run to December 2029, with the potential for the award of a successive framework agreement with a term of up to four years, taking it to December 2034. It was expected to be used by contracting authorities such as Welsh health boards, general medical services providers, Health Education and Improvement Wales, DHCW, and Public Health Wales.
The decision to abandon the process has been made following the completion of the Conditions of Participation assessment stage, DHCW notes, which reviewed the procurement outcome.
Wider trend: AVT
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out AVT across more locations and community services following a successful trial. The initial trial of the Lyrebird AVT solution incorporated services including same day emergency care, dermatology, rheumatology, and urology. The technology will now be used in services including the emergency department, paediatrics, orthopaedics, the stroke unit, and the minor injuries unit, MCHT reports.
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust has shared updates on its use of AVT, offering an insight into how it is being used to support the patient experience. 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.
The North West London Acute Provider Group has shared its intent to procure an AVT 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. Suppliers were invited to take part in an engagement to help shape its procurement strategy, with an aim to ensure requirements for an upcoming procurement exercise are “realistic, deliverable and aligned to current market capabilities”.
