Key Takeaways
- Great Ormond Street Hospital will implement AI-scribe technology in outpatient services this autumn after successful NHS trials.
- The technology, TORTUS, improves patient care and reduces clinician workload, potentially saving £834 million annually if adopted nationwide.
- Results showed increased patient interaction time and reduced appointment durations, enhancing efficiency in clinical settings.
Enhancing Patient Care with AI Technology
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) is set to introduce AI-scribe technology across its outpatient services this autumn. This follows a promising NHS trial demonstrating significant benefits for both patients and healthcare professionals.
The trial, sponsored by NHS England and spearheaded by GOSH, took place across nine NHS sites in London. It aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of TORTUS, an AI tool that employs ambient voice technology to transcribe medical consultations and generate summarized clinical notes for clinician review. Between June 2024 and February 2025, over 17,000 patient encounters were assessed in various healthcare settings, including hospitals, GP practices, mental health services, and ambulance teams.
Key findings revealed that AI-scribing technology could substantially reduce the administrative burden on clinicians while enhancing the quality of patient care. If this technology is adopted on a national level, it has the potential to unlock £834 million in annual savings for the NHS. Dr. Shankar Sridharan, chief clinical information officer at GOSH, emphasized the significance of the trial in demonstrating the NHS’s capability to safely and effectively integrate AI into healthcare. He stated the collaboration was vital for proving the technology could succeed at scale.
Results indicated a 23.5% increase in direct patient interaction during appointments and an 8.2% decrease in overall appointment length when AI-scribes were utilized. Emergency department tests at St George’s University Hospital revealed a 13.4% increase in patients attended per shift, with the time taken to complete initial patient notes halved, underscoring the positive impact on efficiency.
Dr. Ahmed Mahdi, a consultant specializing in emergency medicine at the same hospital, remarked on the high-paced nature of emergency settings, stating that every second is crucial. He noted that this technology not only boosts efficiency but also allows clinicians to concentrate more on patient care.
Feedback from clinicians has been overwhelmingly positive, with many describing the AI-scribing tool as transformative—especially beneficial for neurodivergent staff and those working in stressful environments. Notably, there was a 35% drop in the feeling of being overwhelmed due to notetaking. Additionally, a survey of patients and their families revealed that 92% consented to the use of AI-scribes, with many indicating a more engaging experience during consultations.
Dr. Vin Diwakar, clinical transformation director at NHS England, highlighted the advantages of allowing clinicians to spend nearly 25% more time with patients instead of focusing on documentation. He reiterated the organization’s commitment to integrating such innovations into frontline care as part of the ten-year health plan.
Economic analyses conducted by York Health Economics Consortium estimated that if clinicians could see one more patient per shift thanks to AI-scribe implementation, it would yield an additional £270.93 in capacity daily. By scaling this solution nationally, the NHS could potentially handle an extra 9,259 emergency consultations each day, saving £176 million in documentation efforts and unlocking another £658 million in service capacity annually.
The outcomes of this study have informed NHS England’s national guidelines on AI-enabled scribing and contributed to the development of the NHS T.E.S.T. Framework, a national model for assessing AI technologies in healthcare.
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