Barts and The London Trust have awarded provider of digital dictation, speech recognition services Dictate IT. The three-year contract will see the institution outsource 7 million lines per annum.

The public sector's precarious economic position means NHS trusts are acutely aware of any contract that has the potential to add value and ease budgetary pressure. “Outsourced transcription contracts in the NHS are an excellent way for trusts to redistribute funds, and collapse work flow time frames, allowing patients faster access to their medical documentation,” says Mark Miller, managing director at Dictate IT.

He continues, “Trusts will not ever cut clinicians or front line care when they can maximise back office efficiencies. Once examples of best practice are developed by trusts the size of Barts and are seen to work well, we indeed expect an increased level of interest from the sector.”

Barts and The London NHS Trust is one of the biggest and busiest NHS trusts in the UK. It is aiming to eventually outsource around 90% of its annual transcription processes. The 1,400-bed trust awarded the contract based on a ‘fee per line’ model. Barts will only pay for dictation that has been transcribed, and will benefit from installation training and Superuser training as part of the contract.

The system has been tailored to integrate seamlessly with the trust’s current electronic patient record system and will simplify the digital storage of transcribed reports.

Besides fully integrating with the Trust's document management system, a key feature of the Dictate IT offering is the advanced functionality that allows consultants to review and approve documents quickly and simply via a web-based interface.

The award falls under a 2009 Framework Agreement to supply digital dictation, outsourced transcription and speech recognition to 200 NHS Trusts (including Acute Care Trusts, Ambulance Trusts, Mental Health Trusts and Primary Care Trusts).