Uni Hospitals of Leicester upgrades EPR and begins AVT rollout

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) has upgraded its Nervecentre electronic patient record (EPR) system and begun the phased deployment of AI-powered ambient voice technology (AVT) to support clinical documentation.

The developments support the trust’s wider programme to become a fully digitally enabled organisation, with new capabilities intended to improve access to clinical information, streamline workflows and reduce administrative pressures on frontline staff.

The latest Nervecentre upgrade introduces digital clinical documentation for inpatients, alongside extending electronic prescribing and fully electronic ordering and reporting for diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays and CT scans, across outpatient services.

By expanding digital workflows across more care settings, clinicians will have access to more complete and timely patient information at the point of care, with the aim of supporting faster clinical decision-making, while improving the efficiency of admissions, treatment and discharge processes.

Alongside the EPR enhancements, UHL has started the gradual rollout of AVT following a pilot and an extended learning and testing phase.

The AI-enabled software listens to conversations between clinicians and patients during consultations to generate a draft clinical note. The draft is then reviewed, edited and approved by the clinician before becoming part of the patient’s medical record.

The system also supports the automatic production of letters for patients and GPs, enabling correspondence to be issued immediately once approved, while ensuring patient records remain up to date.

Will Monaghan, group chief digital information officer at UHL and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group, said: “This is the result of many months of work by hundreds of digital, clinical, administrative and operational colleagues.

“Together, they have strengthened our Nervecentre EPR and begun the safe, phased rollout of AVT. Our ambition is to become a fully digitally enabled Trust, improving the quality of care and the experience of care for patients.

“We also want to make UHL an even better place to work by giving colleagues digital tools that genuinely help. I want to thank everyone involved for their commitment to making UHL a better place to receive and deliver care.”

The trust says the technology will allow clinicians to spend more time interacting with patients and less time completing administrative tasks, while maintaining clinical oversight of all documentation.

The rollout follows a pilot and evaluation to ensure the technology met the needs of staff and patients before wider implementation. The trust is now rolling out the technology in phases across different specialties.

On day two of Digital Health Rewired 2026, Monaghan joined host Jordan Sollof to discuss rolling out the Federated Data Platform and AVT at scale in Leicester and Northamptonshire.

Watch or listen to the full episode here.