NHS braces itself for the AVT revolution: Ambient Voice Technologies set to unlock productivity and efficiency gains

Exec Summary

Ambient Voice Technologies (AVT) are poised to transform the NHS by streamlining clinical workflows and boosting productivity. These AI-driven tools, which combine speech recognition and natural language processing, capture patient-clinician conversations in real-time, automatically drafting notes, letters, and clinical codes. This reduces administrative burdens, allowing clinicians to focus on patient care.

Key Developments in 2025:

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) leads a pan-London trial of TORTUS AI, evaluating AVT across GP settings, A&E, adult hospitals, and mental health services. The trial, running from June 2024 to February 2025, involves 5,000 patients and aims to assess scalability and safety. Early results show improved clinic efficiency and reduced admin time.
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust began a three-month pilot in January 2025, using TORTUS in paediatric services to draft notes for children with conditions like autism and ADHD, freeing up clinician time.
Scribetech UK plans to launch Augnito Omni AI in 2025, offering 99.3% accurate speech-to-text and seamless integration with Electronic Patient Records (EPRs). It aims to cut documentation time by up to 90%, addressing clinician burnout.

Productivity and Efficiency Gains:

AVT can save significant time, with studies estimating speech input is 3-5 times faster than typing. For example, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust saved 2,500 hours in six months using voice recognition.
By automating tasks like note-taking and coding, AVT reduces clinician burnout, a critical issue with 25% of NHS medics reporting burnout and 20% considering quitting.
The NHS’s 2025/26 priorities emphasise digital tools to achieve 4% productivity improvements, with AVT supporting this by streamlining documentation and enhancing data integration.

Challenges and Concerns:

Data Security: Patient confidentiality is a major concern, with trials emphasising secure data handling to maintain trust.
Accuracy and Reliability: AVT must handle diverse accents, medical terminology, and noisy environments. GOSH trials showed robustness against background noise and deceptive inputs, but ongoing refinement is needed.
Adoption Barriers: Fragmented procurement processes and clinician skepticism about new tech could slow uptake. Simplified funding and training, as outlined in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, are critical.

While AVT promises efficiency, the NHS’s history of IT failures (e.g., problematic EHR rollouts) raises doubts about seamless implementation. Overreliance on AI could depersonalize care if not balanced with human oversight. Additionally, the £3.4 Billion tech budget for 2025/26, while substantial, may be stretched thin across competing priorities like EPR upgrades and AI diagnostics, potentially limiting AVT’s impact.

AVT could revolutionise NHS efficiency by reducing admin burdens and enhancing patient interaction, aligning with 2025/26 goals of digital transformation and productivity growth. However, success hinges on robust data security, clinician training, and overcoming procurement hurdles. If implemented thoughtfully, AVT could ease workforce strain and improve care delivery, but the NHS must navigate its complex IT landscape to avoid past pitfalls.

Nelson Advisors > HealthTech M&A

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Ambient Voice Technologies: Senior NHS Support

NHS clinicians will be supported to use groundbreaking artificial intelligence tools that bulldoze bureaucracy and take notes to free up staff time and deliver better care to patients thanks to guidance published today.

Interim trial data shows that the revolutionary tech has dramatically reduced admin, and meant more people could be seen in A&E, clinicians could spend more time during an appointment focusing on the patient, and appointments were shorter.

Through its Plan for Change the government is getting the NHS back on its feet and slashing waiting lists. Guidance published today will encourage the use of these products - which use speech technologies and generative AI to convert spoken words into structured medical notes and letters - across a range of primary and secondary care settings, including hospitals and GP surgeries.

The government’s mission-led approach is driving forward the use of innovative tech and new approaches to reform the health system and improve care for patients – offering them quicker and smarter care.

One of the tools – ambient voice technologies (AVTs) – can transcribe patient-clinician conversations, create structured medical notes, and even draft patient letters.

Patient safety and privacy will be paramount. This is why the guidance will focus on data compliance and security, risk identification and assessment, while ensuring that staff are properly trained before using the technology.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

AI is the catalyst that will revolutionise healthcare and drive efficiencies across the NHS, as we deliver our Plan for Change and shift care from analogue to digital. I am determined we embrace this kind of technology, so clinicians don’t have to spend so much time pushing pens and can focus on their patients.This government made the difficult but necessary decision at the Budget to put a record £26 billion into our NHS and social care including cash to roll out more pioneering tech.

The NHS England funded, London-wide AVT work, led by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, has evaluated AVT capabilities across a range of clinical settings - Adult Outpatients, Primary Care, Paediatrics, Mental Health, Community care, A+E and across London Ambulance Service.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ai-doctors-assistant-to-speed-up-appointments-a-gamechanger?utm_source=miragenews&utm_medium=miragenews&utm_campaign=news

Past, Present, and Future of Ambient Voice Technologies (AVT) in the NHS

Ambient Voice Technologies (AVT), which leverage AI-driven speech recognition and natural language processing to capture and process clinical conversations, have evolved significantly in their application within the NHS. Below is an overview of their past, present, and projected future, focusing on their role in enhancing productivity and efficiency.

Past (Pre-2023)

Initial Use of Speech Recognition: The NHS began experimenting with basic speech-to-text tools in the early 2000s, primarily for dictation purposes. Tools like Dragon NaturallySpeaking were used by clinicians to transcribe notes, but these required manual editing and lacked integration with Electronic Patient Records (EPRs).

Limited Scope: Early AVT was clunky, with issues like poor accuracy for medical terminology, sensitivity to accents, and inability to handle noisy environments. Adoption was sporadic, often limited to tech-savvy clinicians or specific departments.

Pilot Programs: Small-scale trials, such as those in radiology departments, showed potential for reducing documentation time. For example, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust reported saving 2,500 hours over six months using basic voice recognition by 2019.

Challenges: High costs, lack of interoperability with NHS IT systems, and concerns over data security hindered widespread adoption. The NHS’s fragmented IT infrastructure and budget constraints further limited progress.

Early AVT laid the groundwork but was constrained by technological limitations and systemic barriers, serving as a proof of concept rather than a transformative tool.

Present (2023–2025)

Technological Leap: Modern AVT combines advanced speech recognition, natural language processing, and AI to transcribe conversations, generate clinical notes, suggest diagnostic codes, and integrate with EPRs in real-time. Tools like TORTUS AI and Augnito Omni AI achieve up to 99.3% accuracy, even with complex medical terminology and diverse accents.

Ongoing Trials:

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH): Since June 2024, GOSH has led a pan-London trial of TORTUS AI across GP settings, A&E, adult hospitals, and mental health services, involving 5,000 patients. Early results show reduced admin time and improved clinic efficiency, with the trial set to conclude in February 2025.

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust: A January 2025 pilot uses TORTUS in pediatric services, drafting notes for conditions like autism and ADHD, freeing clinicians for patient care.

Scribetech’s Augnito Omni AI: Set for a 2025 launch, it promises 90% reductions in documentation time and seamless EPR integration.

Productivity Gains: AVT aligns with the NHS’s 2025/26 goal of 4% productivity improvement. Studies indicate speech input is 3–5 times faster than typing, directly addressing clinician burnout (25% of NHS medics report burnout, 20% consider quitting).

Policy Support: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and £3.4 billion tech budget for 2025/26 prioritise digital tools like AVT to streamline workflows and enhance data-driven care.

Challenges:

Data Security: Patient confidentiality remains critical, with trials emphasising secure data handling to maintain trust.
Adoption Barriers: Clinician skepticism, training needs, and fragmented procurement processes slow uptake. The NHS’s history of IT challenges (e.g., problematic EHR rollouts) fuels caution.
Accuracy Needs: While robust, AVT must continually improve to handle noisy environments and rare medical terms.

Despite progress, the NHS’s complex IT landscape and competing priorities (e.g., EPR upgrades, AI diagnostics) may dilute AVT’s impact. Over reliance on AI risks de-personalising care without careful oversight.

AVT is gaining traction in 2025, with promising trials and policy backing, but scaling requires overcoming systemic and cultural barriers.

Future (2026 and Beyond)

Projected Developments:

Widespread Adoption: By 2027, AVT could be standard in NHS trusts, integrated into most EPR systems. Successful 2025 trials (e.g., GOSH) are likely to drive national rollouts, supported by simplified procurement and training programs outlined in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Enhanced Capabilities:

Real-Time Decision Support: Future AVT could analyse conversations to suggest diagnoses, flag risks, or recommend treatments, acting as a clinical co-pilot.

Multilingual and Contextual Awareness: Improved AI will handle diverse languages, dialects, and cultural nuances, making AVT accessible across the NHS’s diverse patient base.

Wearable Integration: AVT may pair with wearable devices for continuous monitoring, automatically updating patient records during consultations.

System-Wide Efficiency: AVT could save millions of hours annually, addressing workforce shortages (e.g., 7% vacancy rates in 2024). For instance, automating 50% of documentation could free up 10–15% of clinician time, enabling more patient appointments.

Personalised Care: By reducing admin burdens, AVT will allow clinicians to focus on patient interaction, potentially improving outcomes in high-pressure areas like mental health and chronic disease management.

Potential Challenges:

Ethical Concerns: Overreliance on AVT could erode clinical judgment or raise liability issues if AI errors occur. Transparent AI governance will be essential.
Cost and Equity: While the £3.4 Billion tech budget supports innovation, uneven funding across trusts could create disparities in AVT access, particularly in underfunded regions.
Resistance to Change: Cultural inertia among clinicians and patients may persist, requiring robust change management and evidence of long-term benefits.

The NHS’s track record of slow tech adoption suggests AVT may not achieve full potential by 2030 without aggressive policy intervention. Budget constraints and competing digital priorities (e.g., cybersecurity, telehealth) could delay scaling, and poorly implemented AVT might exacerbate clinician frustration if systems are unreliable.

Opportunities for NHS Leadership:

The NHS could set a global standard for AVT in healthcare by leveraging its unified structure to conduct large-scale trials and share best practices.
Partnerships with tech firms (e.g., TORTUS, Scribetech) and academic institutions could accelerate innovation, ensuring AVT evolves with clinical needs.

AVT’s future in the NHS is transformative, potentially revolutionising workflows and patient care by 2030. However, realising this vision requires overcoming funding, ethical, and adoption hurdles while maintaining a human-centered approach.

Past: AVT’s early days in the NHS were marked by basic speech recognition with limited impact due to technological and systemic constraints.

Present: In 2025, AVT is proving its value through trials, policy support, and advanced AI, though scaling remains challenging.

Future: By 2030, AVT could be a cornerstone of NHS efficiency, enhancing care delivery and addressing workforce strain, provided the NHS navigates its complex IT and cultural landscape effectively.

The trajectory of AVT reflects the NHS’s broader digital transformation journey—promising but fraught with challenges that demand strategic focus and clinician trust.

Nelson Advisors > HealthTech M&A

We work with our clients to assess whether they should 'Build, Buy, Partner or Sell' in order to maximise shareholder value and investment returns. Email lloyd@nelsonadvisors.co.uk

Nelson Advisors regularly publish Healthcare Technology thought leadership articles covering market insights, trends, analysis & predictions @ https://www.healthcare.digital