The Royal Devon is piloting AI technology to help with administrative tasks, so that clinicians can devote more time to their patients.

The Trust is working with TORTUS to provide secure Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) to support with notetaking and streamline clinical administration. Ambient Voice Technology turns the words spoken in the consultation between patient and clinician into medical notes and summarises the consultation in real time. 

This will reduce the amount of time doctors spend writing notes, so that they can see an extra patient each day. This would equate to around 15,000 additional appointments across Devon each year, helping to reduce waiting times for patients.  

Dr Stuart Kyle, clinical lead for outpatient transformation said, “Ambient Voice Technology has the potential to be a powerful tool to help us improve patient care.  

“It won’t do the job of a clinician, we will still be checking all the notes and summaries to make sure they’re accurate, but it will allow us to focus even more fully on each patient without the need to make notes at the same time.” 

The Royal Devon will pilot the technology in cardiology before rolling it out to other services.  

The Trust is working collaboratively with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Sustainable Innovation - a research and development hub advancing medical technology solutions – and the University of Exeter to evaluate the pilot and understand the impact on patient care.  

The hope is that it will improve patient care, with clinicians able to give each patient their full attention and reduce delays between the appointment and any referrals or outcome letters being sent.  

Professor Adrian Harris, Chief Medical Officer, said: “We’re leading the way in terms of how this technology can work in the NHS to improve care for patients and reduce waiting times. Only a handful of NHS trusts have trialled this technology and we have worked with TORTUS and Epic* to be the first Trust to fully integrate this technology with our electronic patient record. 

“We’ve completed thorough checks to ensure that the technology is secure, and your clinician will check and approve the notes. 

“Ambient Voice Technology will be game-changing for patient care. It will allow our clinicians to focus on what they do best – treating patients – whilst speeding up processes and ensuring that patient notes are accurate and easier to understand.” 

Information about data security 

All data handled through TORTUS is processed in a fully secure environment and is deleted once the documentation is complete. TORTUS meets all UK data protection regulations, including GDPR. Click here to read their privacy notice. 

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