East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is inviting NHS acute, community and mental health trusts across England to apply for a fully funded six‑month deployment of CLEARnotes, an ambient voice technology designed to cut documentation time and improve clinician–patient interaction.
Delivered through the National CLEAR Programme, the NHS‑hosted pilot offers organisations a structured, clinically governed and financially risk‑free opportunity to evaluate the impact of AI‑enabled voice technology on productivity, safety and patient care.
Unlike standalone software trials, the CLEARnotes pilot provides participating organisations with a comprehensive support framework to ensure safe and sustainable implementation. This includes:
- Clinical engagement from day one
- Robust governance and patient safety processes
- Implementation and optimisation support
- Clear, evidence‑based evaluation of productivity and service impact
Up to three services per trust can deploy CLEARnotes during the six‑month period, allowing frontline teams to assess how ambient voice documentation can release time to care while reducing administrative burden.
The evaluation process prioritises both productivity gains and quality of patient interactions, supporting NHS trusts to make informed decisions about future adoption.
The pilot is fully funded, removing financial risk for participating organisations. During the deployment period, the CLEAR Programme will work with trusts to explore gain‑share options, ensuring that any long‑term commercial model is directly tied to proven benefits delivered beyond the pilot phase.
This approach ensures sustainability is aligned with measurable improvements for both clinicians and patients, rather than speculative investment.
Trusts already using CLEARnotes with support from the CLEAR team are reporting quantifiable improvements:
- At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, the nurse‑led pre‑operative department achieved a 14% increase in productivity.
- At The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, the pre‑operative service recorded a 25% productivity improvement within a single clinic.
These outcomes underscore the potential of ambient voice technologies to ease documentation pressures, speed up patient pathways, and improve staff wellbeing.
The CLEARnotes pilot supports the NHS’s wider ambition to adopt safe, effective AI tools that enhance productivity and protect clinician–patient relationships.
Tony McDonald, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s Chief Integration Officer, said:
“Innovation in the NHS must be grounded in safety, evidence and real-world impact. By hosting this fully funded pilot, we are enabling trusts to evaluate CLEARnotes in a structured way, ensuring that any future adoption is driven by demonstrated value and aligned to NHS governance standards.”
By enabling trusts to evaluate ambient voice technology in real clinical settings, supported by governance, expert guidance and a structured deployment model, the programme seeks to accelerate adoption of innovations that help tackle workforce pressures and improve care quality.
ELHT and the National CLEAR Programme are now inviting expressions of interest from NHS organisations seeking to reduce documentation burden, release clinical time and explore technology‑enabled service redesign.
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