Being Part of the Heidi AVT Evaluation with Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber
Earlier this year I had the chance to be involved in something very special at the Jean Bishop Integrated Care Centre in Hull — the formal evaluation of the Heidi Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) scribe, carried out by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber.
As Digital Navigator for the Frailty Service, I’d already spent many months supporting staff as they learned to use Heidi in everyday clinical practice.
It was really interesting to be part of the formal evaluation, seeing from the inside what detail and work goes into evaluating a ground-breaking digital technology within the National Health Service.
And it was also exciting to be part of the official video which launched the report and findings to the wider world! I've done plenty of 'proper' photoshoots, but this was the first time being part of a 'proper' video production.
'Shoot' day was a mix of interviews, filming, and honest conversations about how Heidi had changed the rhythm of clinical work.
I was invited to share my experience of supporting the rollout — the training, the troubleshooting, the small wins, and the moments where confidence clicked into place for staff.
It was a privilege to speak about the human side of digital adoption, and how thoughtful implementation can make technology genuinely useful rather than overwhelming.
The key outcomes from the evaluation can be grouped into several 'buckets'.
- Time saved for clinicians in documenting consultations and preparing notes and patient plans.
- Documentation quality significantly improved.
- Protected Time for Learning created for the first time, (and another area where I supported as Digital Navigator)
- And most importantly: staff wellbeing improved, cognitive load reduced, and patients feel more listened to.
This work is also what contributed to our national award win, Innovation Of The Year at the Social Enterprise Awards 2025, and I’m so pleased to see this story now shared more widely.
For me, the most powerful part has always been the human impact.
When older adults say “I feel like you’ve really listened to me today”, that’s when you know technology is doing what it should — enabling connection and care, not replacing it, or making things worse!As I said at the end of the video,
"I have worked in technology for many years and have enabled many people to bring tech alive. But I think this has been one of the best examples of being able to see the benefit on the person. Quite often I enabled benefits for a car factory, or a global bank, or a small business, but this technology really enables a person to focus on another person, which I think is wonderful."
The photo at the top of this post features Dr Andrew Noble (Lead clinician on this project, as GP with an extended role in Frailty) and Raghav Sharma, Director of Heidi Health Europe.
You can read more on the Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber website here:
https://www.healthinnovationyh.org.uk/ai-scribe-is-a-game-changer-say-clinicians/
You can watch the video here:
This is part of a Short Series
This post is the third in a small series exploring the Heidi project from different angles — winning the Award, visiting the Heidi office, the case study and filming, and visiting the House of Lords as one of the Social Enterprise Awards winners of 2025.
Each moment tells part of the story of how thoughtful, human-led innovation can ripple far beyond a single service.
Cheers, Sue x