The NHS is increasingly using ambient voice technology (AVT), which is type of Artificial Intelligence (AI), to improve the quality and experience of patient care.
You might notice that ambient voice technology is used by healthcare professionals at your GP practice, at your local hospital or by your care providers in the community.
Ambient voice technology can help reduce the administrative burden on busy healthcare professionals, so that they can focus more time on their patient's care.
What is Ambient Voice Technology?
Ambient voice technology is a new tool which helps your healthcare professional focus on you during your appointment, instead of their computer.
Healthcare professionals have typically dictated or typed notes into a computer during and after the consultation with the patient.
Ambient voice technology, which is also known as an AI-scribe, listens quietly in the background and generates a clear summary of your conversation. This means your healthcare professional can give you their full attention, knowing that your health information is being captured, for them to review a summary at the end of your appointment. It is your clinician’s responsibility to check the summary of a consultation is accurate before it is added to your medical record.
Is my information safe?
Yes. Your privacy is extremely important, and your personal information remains secure and confidential. Ambient voice technology used by the NHS needs to comply with all UK data protection laws.
Each individual NHS organisation is responsible for the assurance of the ambient scribe, and they are required to ensure that the ambient voice solution they use, adheres to national standards in information security, data privacy, cyber security and clinical safety.
What if I don’t want the healthcare professional to use the tool?
If you’re not comfortable with the use of ambient voice technology during your appointment, please let your healthcare professional know. A health professional will not use the software if you don’t want them to, for any reason.
