NHS Grampian trials new ambient voice technology to enhance patient care

NHS Grampian’s Innovation Hub has launched a three‑month pilot of innovative ambient voice technology with the support of Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership. The tech is designed to reduce time spent on paperwork for staff and enhance meaningful, person‑centred conversations with patients.

 

The trial, which will continue until mid‑May, is taking place in Inverurie Hospital’s Donbank Ward, where 13 staff nurses – and patients in hospital who consent to taking part – are helping to test how well this type of technology works in a real clinical setting.

 

Built on healthcare AI platform Corti, the software can listen to conversations between nurses, patients, and families, and then automatically generate structured clinical notes. These are checked and edited by the nurses, who are helping it to learn the local Doric dialect. 

 

The system is being used during admission assessments as well as during twice‑daily clinical assessments. Nurses have reported the technology is prompting deeper conversations, and that some patients have shared personal reflections and emotional concerns they may not previously have voiced. They say it can halve the time they spend writing notes, helps them feel more present and improves the depth and quality of information handed over between shifts.

 

Senior charge nurse Katie Anderson, clinical lead for the pilot, said: “It makes a real difference when patients feel someone is really listening to them. And it helps us record the patient journey much more accurately. Some members of the team who were most apprehensive at the start of the pilot are now the most engaged. We used to have to try and remember what was said during observations and record this in notes later. Using the tech frees up mind space so we can have a really good conversation.” 

 

One patient commented how impressed she was the transcript documented what she was actually feeling, while other patients and their families have expressed interest in and support for the new approach.

 

Earlier this year, Corti’s Chief Partnership Officer Florian Schwiecker visited Donbank Ward to meet staff and observe the technology in use. Florian commented: "What struck me visiting Donbank Ward was how much ownership Katie's team have taken over the technology. They're teaching it Doric, they're shaping how it learns and they're gaining more quality time with patients because of it. That's why Corti exists – to provide specialised AI that understands how care actually happens, and where support is genuinely needed." 

 

The three-month evaluation which is underway will inform whether this type of innovative technology can help the NHS reduce the administrative workload for health care professionals and improve care and efficiency.

 

Rebecca Thomson, Project Support Officer for NHS Grampian’s Innovation Hub team, explained: “Our pilot with Corti aims to explore whether ambient voice technology can help address the huge administration burden affecting our NHS. By recording and automatically summarising conversations with patients, the technology enables staff to deliver more person-centred care while maintaining strong clinical oversight and patient safety. Corti has been developed specifically with healthcare in mind and we are excited to see the potential benefit the system can provide to our teams across Grampian.”

 

Patient Allan Rennie who is currently in Donbank Ward recovering from surgery commented: “Obviously it’s a new experience to be involved in. If it can be beneficial for patients and nurses to make life easier for both parties then if it works it’s got to be a good thing. The only way you’re going to find out is by trying. Once it was explained I thought, well, what’s the harm in participating.” 

 

Katie added: “Staff have been giving really good feedback about the meaningful conversations which using the technology has prompted them to have. Before, documentation could be very task‑oriented and based more on observations rather than discussions. It's transforming how we reflect on patient care.

 

“We’ve had lots of laughs with the Doric accent — it can confuse the system at times — but it’s improving every day, and staff can edit live so the model learns from us. It has been developed to listen to different languages around the world and I’m sure we can teach it Doric!”

 

For more information, or if you are aware of promising emerging healthcare technology that NHS Grampian may be able to evaluate for real world use, please email gram.innovation-hub@nhs.scot