Nuance ‘turns typists to editors’

Nuance has launched a computer aided medical transcription platform designed to allow NHS staff to edit rather than type transcriptions as soon as they are received.

The company has deployed the software, which it says is widely used across the US, at four NHS trusts including Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

According to Simon Manley, UK sales director for Nuance Health Solutions, the software converts clinicians’ digital dictations into formatted draft documents that medical secretaries can review and edit.

Manley told E-Health Insider: “One of the key things with eScription is that the clinician’s style and approach to working doesn’t have to change at all.

"The information goes straight into data centre, it’s formatted into a typical template then using the intelligent software it arrives at their PC in the relevant format. The only thing that it has changed is the typist ibecomes an editor who is much more productive and efficient."

The technology is hosted in the UK at the LDL Data Centre enabling a closed loop NHS N3 secure environment. It is compatible with multiple devices and trusts’ existing telephony networks and is also provided on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Manley added that in the US, more than 30 healthcare organisations claim that they have saved more than $93m (£65m) in transcription cost savings using the eScription platform.

Dr Zafar Chaudry, chief information officer at Liverpool Women’s and Alder Hey Hospitals, said: “We are very excited about trialling Nuance eScription. It could represent a paradigm shift in the transcription process of NHS trusts.”

Link: Nuance