Ambient Voice Technologies (AVT) Could Transform the NHS and Build Britain’s Sovereign AI Capabilities, Analysis Reveals
Ambient Voice Technologies (AVT) could radically transform the NHS and build Britain’s sovereign AI capabilities, according to analysis by The King’s Fund.
The report, Seizing a Rare Opportunity, explores how the NHS can maximise the benefits of AVT, which could significantly improve patient care and working conditions for NHS staff.
AVT is an AI-powered technology that listens to spoken conversations and converts them into clinical notes, letters or other outputs. It can also provide workflow support. Currently, most users are doctors, but interest extends to nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and social care staff. The government has announced major plans to roll out and invest in AVT across the NHS.
Seizing a Rare Opportunity presents insights from a roundtable with patient representatives, NHS and industry experts, as well as a scan of research reports and individual conversations with NHS staff and leaders on the future potential for AVT.
There was significant excitement in the roundtable discussion about the potential for AVT to support the NHS workforce, by reducing admin, overtime and cognitive burden for busy staff.
The analysis highlights structural blockers to the effective rollout of AVT. These include electronic patient records that do not easily integrate with AVT, which means clinicians are manually copy-pasting information between systems, and a lack of transparent AVT performance metrics – so it is unclear what benefits are being delivered in practice. There is a need for national strategy that ensures the benefits of AVT are not only felt in isolated patches of the country.
The analysis recommends a focus on value-based procurement, risk–reward partnerships with suppliers, and digital funding pots that funds transformative changes to how the NHS delivers care – not only the software it uses.
Although errors can be, and are, made in healthcare services that do not use AVT, AVT can introduce potential errors, such as hallucinating medication and incorrectly identifying which side of the patient’s body needs treatment. This highlights why a collaborative approach between NHS, regulators and suppliers, including how AVT safety reporting interacts with the MHRA yellow card system, is needed urgently.
The King’s Fund fellow, Dr Pritesh Mistry said: ‘We know there is exceptional excitement about AVT among NHS leaders and the workforce. As a result, the market is racing ahead. It’s important to recognise the technology will not stand still, and neither should the system’s ambition for it.
‘The UK has unique assets with a universal health system, a large workforce, and a growing domestic AI capability. AVT provides an opportunity for the NHS to shape how AI is used, stimulate a thriving marketplace of AVT suppliers, and build the UK’s competitive capability to develop technologies that improve healthcare.
‘The potential benefit of this technology on patient care and the workforce is absolutely critical. Considering the rocky foundation of previously unsuccessful NHS technology projects, we must get this right.’
