Meaningful Use of Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) in the NHS: Health Innovation Network AVT Programme

Programme Summary

Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) uses artificial intelligence (AI) to convert clinical conversations into documentation such as clinical notes and patient letters. AVT is of significant interest to the NHS: it has the potential to reduce administrative burden, release clinician time, and improve patient and staff experience.

However, its impact on cost and safety and insight into how to use it to best effect are still not well understood. The Network AVT programme provides practical support for understanding the supplier market, as well as procuring, implementing and adopting AVT in the NHS.

The programme offers:

• Detailed resources to procure, implement and evaluate AVT.
• Peer-to-peer learning and problem-solving through communities of practice and action learning sets.
• Insight into what works – so that AVT can deliver real benefits for patients and staff.

A large-scale evaluation of uptake, use, impact and economic implications of AVT will be undertaken as part of programme delivery.

The programme will develop a blueprint for the effective use of AVT in the NHS.

The opportunity

Clinical documentation consumes a substantial amount of clinicians’ time, with up to a quarter of the working day spent on record-keeping and administrative activities. (1) This contributes to workload pressures, burnout (2) and limits time available for patient care.

As healthcare systems seek to improve productivity, AVT offers an opportunity to reduce administrative burden, enhance patient-clinician communication, and produce more timely, accurate clinical documentation. (2,3,4)

About the programme

Health Innovation East is delivering the programme across the East of England. The programme will run for two years until March 2028.

Working closely with NHS England East of England to ensure strategic alignment, Health Innovation East will work with providers at different stages of their AVT journey.

The programme is structured around three pillars:

• Navigating the supplier landscape and procurement: supporting NHS organisations to navigate the evolving AVT supplier landscape, aligned to the NHS England supplier registry and known electronic patient record (EPR) AVT modules.
• Implementation and adoption: providing practical tools, guidance and hands-on support to enable the safe implementation and sustained adoption of AVT.
• Evaluation and benefits realisation: delivering a consistent approach to measurement through a common outcomes framework and core dataset. The programme aims to generate robust evidence to develop our understanding of value and appropriate AVT use.

Across all three pillars, our programme enables peer learning, collaboration and the spread of effective approaches through communities of practice, action learning sets and coordinated national support.

The programme is being delivered by the Health Innovation Network, led by Health Innovation East, and delivered in partnership with UCL Partners and THIS Institute. It also benefits from the expertise of the NIHR Rapid Service Evaluation Team (led by University College London, Nuffield Trust and University of Cambridge), who are assessing the uptake and use of AVT nationally across the course of the programme. They will deliver robust insights, including assessment of use, uptake, impact and economic implications.

Alignment with NHS England

Our approach is simple: one national initiative, working as one system.

NHS England is providing national funding, guidance, standards and implementation support.

The Health Innovation Network is supporting implementation, navigating the supplier landscape, supplier engagement, learning and evidence generation alongside the Frontline Productivity programme.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) helps provide regulatory clarity, and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and research partners strengthen the independent evidence base.

Together, we are helping NHS organisations deploy AVT safely, integrate it into clinical workflows, and realise productivity and patient care benefits at scale.

AVT Support available to providers

There are three ways in which providers can access AVT support:

• Through participating in the Network AVT programme
• Through NHS Frontline Productivity Programme funding and associated change management support
• Through both Frontline Productivity Programme funding and associated support and participating in the Network AVT programme

Providers may also choose to implement AVT without accessing any of these support offers. Providers should speak to their local Health Innovation Network team to explore opportunities via the Network AVT programme and their regional NHS England team regarding Frontline Productivity Programme funding.

Supporting NHS priorities

The programme directly supports national NHS priorities and the Government’s strategic shifts in care.

From analogue to digital

The programme accelerates digital transformation by supporting the adoption of AVT. Through practical implementation support, shared learning and alignment with national priorities, NHS organisations are enabled to transition from analogue processes to efficient digital workflows.

Tackling health inequalities

The programme examines where patient groups (such as those who do not speak English as a first language or those with speech impediments) are not well-served by AVT and seeks to provide recommendations for providers to implement AVT equitably across all patient populations.

Programme ambitions

At launch the programme aims to:

• Support meaningful use of AVT across the NHS, providing support for real change management and benefits realisation – rather than implementation alone. For this reason, the programme does not focus on adoption and spread and will work with a limited cohort of AVT projects in a variety of settings and contexts.
• Build a robust evidence base for AVT based on structured data collection across NHS settings, use cases and patient groups – shining light on where AVT offers most benefit and how it can be implemented equitably and to best effect.
• Develop a blueprint for effective AVT use in the NHS based on programme learning and evaluation evidence, enabling effective, sustainable AVT use beyond programme delivery.

The intended programme impacts are:

• A stronger evidence-base to inform future investment and decision-making on AVT across the NHS.
• Improved understanding of the conditions required for meaningful, effective, sustainable and scalable AVT adoption.
• More efficient and consistent adoption of AVT through enabling shared learning, spreading best practice and providing implementation support.