The national PACS programme is encouraging radiology departments within hospital trusts to apply voice recognition (VR) software for reporting.

For example, when a patient has a scan, that scan is sent to a radiologist for diagnosis and to write a report; the response time for reports in many radiology departments is 5-7 days.

However, with a successful implementation of VR – where the radiologist ‘speaks their report’ into the system – reports on patient scans can be available in as little as 24 hours.

Along with improvements in report turnaround times, trusts using VR have experienced cost savings because of a reduction in the administrative overhead previously needed to type written reports. These savings can then be reinvested to improve other services at the hospital.

The use of VR varies across England and the PACS programme is encouraging wider adoption of the technology so that the benefits can be more widely realised.

Implementing voice recognition in radiology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (PDF, 330Kb).