In 2016 Oxford University Hospitals decided to explore the feasibility of introducing voice recognition (VR) software because it had not been meeting the CCG mandated 10 day letter target; internal admin shortages impeded the support of the off-site transcription workflow; and to introduce a more cost effective method of dictation and to aid the Trust’s transition to paperlite working.
In 2017 a pilot was held with 27 clinicians in the renal and transplant service over a 90 day period. This pilot proved that the concept worked with the renal service and they were able to show a financial benefit due to the cost of an admin support post at band 3 and reduce their transcription invoices by 77%. The service’s average letter turnaround time of 12 days reduced to three days following the pilot. To enable a successful Trust wide roll-out, the on site system was transitioned into Nuance’s cloud based solution ‘Dragon Medical One’ (DMO) in their data centre. Trust-wide implementation commenced in August 2018.
Approximately 50% of services have now transitioned to VR or are in the process of transitioning with completion for those services due by the end of September 2019. To date 1,340 individuals within the OUHFT have been trained to use VR. There have been benefits realised within VR in patient safety, with the patient story captured at the point of care directly into electronic notes. The access and accuracy of a detailed medical record in the electronic patient record (EPR) has improved with dictation now completed in real-time and outpatient letters are instantly available.
VR has helped the Trust in its transition to Paperlite working with letters stored electronically within EPR. Electronic copies are sent to internal colleagues through the message centre and GP letters are also sent electronically within the Oxford area.
To date £442,876 has been saved on digital dictation costs. In June 2019, 286,396 lines of text were dictated through the Voice Recognition software.