NHS England has published new guidance on the use of Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) in clinical settings, as interest in this area grows rapidly across the healthcare sector.

AVT enables conversations to be captured in the background without disrupting the clinical interaction. In practice, this supports real-time medical scribing, allowing clinicians to focus fully on their patients instead of on manual note-taking.

The guidance outlines both the benefits and the practical considerations for safely and effectively deploying AVT technologies in the NHS.

Some of the key takeaways from the guidance are:

Liability for the use of non-compliant AVT solutions will be held by the local NHS Trust, Primary Care practice or individual clinician.

Compliant solutions will have:

• Clinical safety risk assessment (with designated Clinical Safety Officer) and DPIA
• MHRA class 1 medical device status (as a minimum)
• Integration with the local clinical system through API or FHIR / HL7 
• Evidence of real world clinical validation of benefits in the NHS care setting proposed

The responsibility for translation accuracy remains with the AVT supplier.

NHS organisations are advised to pause, reject or stop engagement with any AVT supplier that is not able to meet these assurance standards.

You can read the full guidance here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/guidance-on-the-use-of-ai-enabled-ambient-scribing-products-in-health-and-care-settings/

HIEM welcomes this guidance. The AVT landscape is evolving quickly, and navigating the growing number of tools and providers can be challenging. We support NHS organisations in identifying the right technologies and offer an innovation scanning service, giving access to thousands of solutions across England’s 15 Health Innovation Networks.

If you’re working in the NHS and exploring AVT, or if you’re an innovator developing solutions in this space, get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to see how we can support.