Friday 02 May 2025
Internal Reference Number: FOI_8424
Date Request Received: 04/02/2025 00:00:00
Date Request Replied To: 26/02/2025 00:00:00
This response was sent via: By Email
Request Summary: OP clinical letters and voice recognition system
Request Category: Companies
| Question Number 1: I kindly request the following information for Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust: What is the total backlog of outpatient clinical letters awaiting completion as of January 2025? (I am interested in the operational backlog only and do not require data on older letters that may be duplicates or contain errors. | |
| Answer To Question 1: CSFS:- 803 Women and Newborn - Gynaecology = 74 Medicine Division Outpatient Clinical letters - 3,741 The number of pending dictations for outpatient letters on Bighand (our dictation software) as of end of January was 3,741 for the Surgery Division. This does not include any letters not yet uploaded to Bighand, i.e. on portable dictaphones not directly connected to the system. | |
| Question Number 2: What was the total expenditure on temporary administrative staff in the past financial year? | |
| Answer To Question 2: This information is available on the Trust website. https://www.salisbury.nhs.uk/about-us/ - under Freedom of Information - Temporary Staffing Spend | |
| Question Number 3: What was the total expenditure on (external) transcription or voice recognition services in the past financial year, if applicable? | |
| Answer To Question 3: Zero spend on voice recognition. Information not held on transcription costs, but likely to be close to zero. | |
| Question Number 4: If applicable, when is the current contract for (external) transcription or voice recognition services set to expire? | |
| Answer To Question 4: Bighand Dictation Contract Current End Date = 31st March 2025 Extension Period = 1 period of 12 months The last VR renewal that was paid was for Maintenance and Support 13/11/2024 to 12/11/2025, This was with Magentus. | |
| Question Number 5: Is the trust currently exploring or actively pursuing the implementation of ambient AI or AI-powered transcription services? | |
| Answer To Question 5: The Trust are considering whether this is a priority for the Trust. | |
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Our staff at Salisbury District Hospital have long been well regarded for the quality of care and treatment they provide for our patients and for their innovation, commitment and professionalism. This has been recognised in a wide range of achievements and it is reflected in our award of NHS Foundation Trust status. This is afforded to hospitals that provide the highest standards of care.
