NHS Shared Business Services has launched a £150M framework for digital dictation, speech recognition, and outsourced transcription.
This will provide immediate time-saving tools and create a future-ready pathway for emerging Ambient Voice and AI scribing technologies
The ‘Digital Dictation, Speech Recognition and Outsourced Transcription 2‘ framework offers immediate access to proven technologies while establishing a crucial, future-ready pathway for emerging Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) and AI-enabled scribing tools.
The move aims to tackle operational pressures and accelerate digital transformation by providing a clear, compliant route to procure services from pre-vetted suppliers. According to NHS SBS Principal Category Manager, Phillip Wood, the framework is a “strategic enabler,” allowing healthcare providers to “match the right tool to the right task whilst maintaining flexibility, accuracy and efficiency.”
Unlocking capacity and reducing burnout through AI scribing
The integration of advanced AI scribes marks a significant shift from traditional dictation. These solutions passively listen and interpret the context of patient-clinician conversations to create structured clinical notes and correspondence, leveraging generative AI.
NHS England has previously highlighted AVT’s potential to reduce staff burnout and improve the quality of patient-clinician face-to-face time. Recent trials at Great Ormond Street Hospital using ambient voice tools in A&E settings have shown transformative results:
- 13% increase in patients seen per shift.
- 35% reduction in clinicians feeling overwhelmed by notetaking.
- The potential to unlock an additional £658M in capacity annually if scaled nationally, primarily by saving £176M in documentation time.
Future-proofing procurement
The new framework is structured to be agile. While it currently covers essential on-site and cloud-based dictation and transcription solutions, it includes a clear provision for incorporating advanced AVT and AI-enabled scribing as they become market-ready, subject to rigorous validation and compliance with NHS standards.
This layered approach ensures that NHS organisations can address their immediate needs with established, scalable systems while seamlessly preparing for the next wave of innovation, ultimately driving significant efficiency gains across clinical and administrative workflows.
