Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a contract for ambient voice technology acute licenses, set to run from November 2026 to February 2028, to Lyrebird Health.
Board papers from September highlight the pilot of AVT across clinical areas such as outpatients and emergency care, with Barnsley noting that funding and procurement arrangements means further roll outs can be planned.
In an AI policy put forward for board approval in July, the trust sets out requirements for the use of AVT for clinical documentation, including DPIA, DTAC, IT technical assurance assessment, and CSO sign-off. It also points to the need for AI-generated clinical documentation to be identifiable in the record, allowing subsequent reviewers to interpret the document with “appropriate context”.
On the wider use of AI, Barnsley outlines that AI systems should not be “deploy-and-forget” technologies. There should be ongoing monitoring and lifecycle management in place, it continues, such as model drift monitoring, periodic reviews of accuracy and clinical safety, and a trust-wide register of AI systems in use.
Last year, the trust published its annual report, highlighting the impact of its other digital investments, such as digital clinic notes and ED documentation on patient experience and clinical care. It shared that investments made in digital technologies in 2024/25 had supported it in sending 64,000 letters per month digitally to patients and partners, delivering up to 25 percent of its total appointments virtually, creating 910,000 digital healthcare documents as part of its paper to digital programme, and scanning 97 million pages of clinical paper notes.
Clinical documentation in the emergency department went live in July 2024, followed by electronic prescribing in October 2024. A digital maternity solution, Badgernet Maternity, was introduced to support a fully integrated and digitally accessible digital record for expectant mothers. The roll-out of inpatient medical notes was also completed in February 2025, with further “significant inroads” made into theatre and surgery digital noting, and plans to fully digitise nursing documentation over the coming year.
Wider trend: AVT
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. 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.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out ambient voice technology 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. More than 300 members of staff have been trained on using the technology so far, according to Rosie Redstone, digital senior project manager.
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.
