NHS clinicians could soon spend more time interacting with patients and less time typing notes, thanks to a new wave of AI note-taking tools.
These advanced systems promise to listen to consultations and automatically generate clinical summaries, streamline documentation, and make appointments more efficient.
By reducing the administrative burden, doctors and nurses can focus on what matters most: providing quality care.
NHS England has launched a new self-certification registry featuring 19 approved suppliers of ambient audio technology – a tool that captures clinician-patient conversations and produces real-time transcriptions and clinical summaries.
The registry ensures that suppliers meet rigorous standards for clinical safety, technical performance, and data protection.
NHS organizations across the UK are now being encouraged to consider these AI-powered solutions to streamline consultations and enhance patient care.
This is the latest in a series of AI technologies being introduced by the health service, which recently unveiled an AI-powered tool to speed up the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
How AI note-taking actually works
AI note-taking technology (also known as AI scribing) automatically posts appointments and creates summarized clinical notes for clinicians to review.
These tools reduce the administrative burden of manual documentation and allow doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to focus more on direct interactions with patients.
AI note-taking saves clinicians an average of 2-3 minutes per visit. This may seem small, but it adds up across your schedule, freeing up valuable time to see more patients and provide more personalized care at each appointment.
Dr Alec Price-Forbes, NHS England National Chief Clinical Information Officer, believes the introduction of AI will transform healthcare services. “The AI revolution is here and we want to provide NHS staff with the latest technology. This has the potential to transform the quality, safety and experience of care that patients receive, and improve efficiency.”
“AI note-taking tools help clinicians spend more time focusing on the patient instead of typing notes or looking at a screen, improving the quality of the visit and improving overall patient satisfaction.
“We are working with NHS organizations to help them implement this technology safely and effectively, helping to make the NHS the most AI-enabled health system in the world as we transition from analog to digital.”
Evidence from an NHS pilot study
A major study sponsored by NHS England and carried out last year evaluated AI writing tools across nine NHS facilities in London.
The study, led by Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s Innovation Unit (GOSH DRIVE), analyzed more than 17,000 patient encounters across hospitals, GP practices, mental health services and ambulance teams.
The results were amazing. Clinicians using AI note-taking saw a 23.5% increase in direct patient interaction time and an 8.2% reduction in overall consultation time.
Accident and emergency departments saw particularly strong growth, with a 13.4% increase in the number of patients per shift.
Nationwide expansion enables efficiency and savings
NHS research highlights the potential for AI note-taking tools to reduce clinician workload while improving patient care.
If widely adopted, it could also lead to significant cost savings by improving booking efficiency and allowing staff to manage larger patient volumes.
The publication of the registry gives NHS organizations a clear framework for implementing secure, evidence-based AI note-taking solutions.
As these tools become more widely used, clinicians will finally be able to regain valuable office time and focus on what matters most: caring for their patients.
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