Introduction
Following the award of a tender, Dictate.IT began working with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’s Chronic Pain department, which consisted of 7 consultants and 3 secretaries. The department was onboarded onto Swift, Dictate.IT’s clinical correspondence speech recognition solution.
Workflow Prior to Swift
Prior to Swift being deployed, Consultants would use tapes to dictate letters. Each Consultant had a Dictaphone and, following their clinic, would take the tapes to the administrative office to be typed. On completion of the clinic, the tapes were wiped and reused. This process was slow and often tapes were not handed over until days or even weeks later.
Outcome
Following the rollout of Swift, letters are now dictated by consultants on the Swift mobile app and are available to view by administrators and clinicians almost immediately. The administrative team no longer type letters, but receive transcribed text for them to format accordingly. In cases where a secretary does not manage to complete a clinic, it is easy for a colleague to pick it up and complete where necessary.
These changes have led to a significant improvement in letter backlogs, reducing from 3-4 weeks to 2 days. Letter turnaround time is now 1 week.
What the Trust Said
“Swift is easy to use and helps us to stay organised. We can efficiently allocate letters and prioritise accordingly. The speech recognition is exceptionally accurate, especially for medical terminology. Our backlog has been eliminated and letter turnaround is much faster.”