NHS AI tool improving waiting times across West Midlands
A new AI transcription tool has received positive feedback from NHS staff and patients across the region
Last updated 23 hours ago
A new AI voice transcription tool is said to be improving NHS waiting times across the West Midlands.
The software, called Heidi, listens to doctor-patient consultations to generate medical notes and patient letters, allowing staff to spend more time on care.
Following a pilot run at Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, it will be rolled out to 70,000 clinicians across 15 acute and community trusts, all Midlands integrated care boards (ICBs) and 1,239 GP practices - making it the largest procurement of its kind in the NHS.
Ravinder Kaur Sahota, Group Chief Information Officer at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust said: "Dudley had seen first-hand what was possible. Our clinicians were spending less time on documentation and more time with patients, and that told us we needed to find a way for the whole region to benefit.
“We built the clinical safety case, the business case, and the evidence base so that other trusts would not have to start from scratch. This framework shows what we can achieve when the NHS works collaboratively to get safe, effective AI into the hands of clinicians at scale."
There has already been positive feedback from patients and staff who say the quality of care has improved due to a reduction in the amount of time spent on admin.
Dr Hannah Allen, GP and Chief Medical Officer of Heidi, said: "NHS Midlands has put in place a route that any trust or ICB in the region can now use, built on thorough procurement and real evidence from frontline services. We are committed to delivering results for every organisation that chooses to use it."
Deployment across the region has already begun in phases, with The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Walsall Healthcare NHS and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust going live in May 2026, followed by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.