Overview

• A GOSH-led trial across nine London NHS sites captured nearly 17,000 interactions using Tortus, an ambient voice AI that drafts clinical notes for review.
• Clinician–patient interaction rose 23.5% and appointment times fell 8.2%, with A&E departments seeing 13.4% more patients per shift and initial notes completed in half the time.
• Economic modelling by York Health Economics Consortium suggests a national rollout could enable 9,259 extra A&E consultations per day, save £176m in documentation time and unlock £658m in annual capacity.
• Great Ormond Street Hospital plans to introduce the scribe across its outpatient services from this autumn.
• Ministers described the tool as transformative and commissioned an implementation plan, with emphasis on GDPR compliance, human oversight and vigilance over possible transcription errors.