Business & Technology
Heidi report says AI tool cuts NHS paperwork by 86%
JOSEPH GABRIEL LAGONSIN
News Editor
Heidi has published a UK report on its AI medical documentation tool, covering more than 15 million patient visits.
The clinician-founded group says the report shows more than four million hours of clinical capacity returned to frontline teams across UK pilots, with documentation time cut by 86% on average. It also found that 95% of clinicians saw an improvement in burnout, while patient satisfaction was about 90% in services using the tool.
The figures come as health services face pressure to reduce administrative workloads and improve access without adding staff. Heidi says its software now supports more than half a million patient interactions each week across the UK.
Several examples in the report point to shorter turnaround times for routine paperwork. In one emergency department, discharge letter turnaround fell from 9.03 days to 2.6 minutes. Another service reduced a backlog of 2,700 clinic letters to fewer than 200 in four months.
A Same Day Emergency Care pilot unlocked up to GBP £95,200 in annualised clinical capacity, according to the report. At Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Same Day Emergency Care and outpatient units freed up 221 hours of clinical capacity.
Primary care was another focus. At Modality Partnership, a GP super-partnership, documentation time during consultations was halved and paperwork completed outside contracted hours fell by 61%.
That shift was linked to lower stress among doctors. Documentation-related stress at Modality fell by 58% and work-life balance improved by 45%, while North East London Integrated Care Board recorded a 67% reduction in stress.
Community and hospice settings also featured in the report. One frailty team cut up to 12 minutes from each consultation, contributing to a projected annual saving of GBP £313,484 and a return of GBP £5.10 for every GBP £1 spent in one multidisciplinary team.
Growth story
The report comes as Heidi is also scaling rapidly as a business. Annualised recurring revenue rose from about USD $1 million to USD $50 million in two years, while total funding reached nearly USD $100 million at a valuation of about USD $660 million.
Its workforce has grown to more than 500 globally, with UK headcount up by more than 300% over the past year. Blackbird, one of Heidi’s backers, has described it as the fastest-growing company in its portfolio since the early years of Canva and Leonardo.Ai.
Heidi was founded by clinicians and engineers in Australia and the UK. It is positioning itself against larger technology groups entering healthcare, including Google Health and Anthropic, arguing that its products were built around clinical workflows rather than adapted from general-purpose systems.
Its product suite has also expanded beyond transcription. Alongside its AI scribe, the company now offers Heidi Remote for wards and rural clinics, Heidi Evidence for point-of-care clinical questions, and Heidi Comms for patient communications across voice, text and chat.
Dr Hannah Allen, chief medical officer at Heidi and a general practitioner, said: “The data in this report reflects what we hear from clinicians across the NHS every day. Clinicians want to give patients their full attention but feel squeezed by rising demand and an ever-growing documentation burden. When AVT is introduced into real workflows with proper support, they can finally look up from the screen, listen properly and still finish their notes on time. This is not about replacing clinical judgement. It is about freeing up clinicians’ cognitive load so that they can focus on patients, not paperwork.”
The UK report draws on 10 de-identified independent service evaluations and pilot reports across acute, outpatient, primary care and community settings, alongside aggregate platform analytics on UK usage up to October 2025. The analysis covered areas including time saving, adoption, documentation quality, workforce wellbeing and patient experience.
The wider backdrop is a push within the NHS to adopt ambient voice technology more broadly. Heidi says NHS England has told integrated care boards and providers to roll out the technology in line with national guidance on safe AI deployment and planning frameworks.
That policy direction has prompted growing scrutiny of how these systems work in live care settings, especially around safety, data handling and whether they reduce workload rather than add another layer of process. The report is likely to be read through that lens, with much of its argument resting on evidence from local service evaluations.
Dr Thomas Kelly, co-founder and chief executive officer of Heidi, said: “AVT has moved from promise to practice. For years we have talked about the documentation crisis in the NHS. This report shows, using real services and real data, that this technology can turn that crisis into recoverable time for patients and staff.
“Across different care settings, we see the same pattern. When clinicians have access to a reliable AI partner that fits the way they already work, documentation time falls, backlogs collapse and burnout eases, while patients feel more heard, not less. As the NHS moves to deploy AVT at pace, this report offers a practical blueprint of what good looks like, and how to keep clinicians and patients at the centre.”
Jayden, 13 launched Jay’s Bakes from his home in Taunton Road in Bicester on Saturday, June 20.
His late nan, a keen baker herself, was the inspiration behind his passion, as well as time spent helping his uncle with his catering business.
Over the last 18 months he has honed his skills by preparing sweat treats every day after school.
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Determined to turn his hobby into something more, Jayden spent two and a half months researching requirements, gaining his Level 2 food hygiene certificate and officially registering his business, mostly without adult intervention.
After four days of preparation, the business officially launched.
Customers were treated to a wide selection of homemade goods, including M&M cookies, Kinder brownies, Biscoff cookies, Victoria sponge trays, lemon drizzle cups and viral ‘dot cakes’.
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His Kinder brownies proved particularly popular, and by the end of the day he had sold out of everything, taking £210.
Despite feeling “excited and a bit nervous” beforehand, Jayden said the opening was a success, with a strong turnout and positive feedback shared on social media.
His favourite moment came when he officially opened the shed by cutting the ribbon.
Supported by his mum, stepdad, grandparents and uncle, Jayden first began selling from a table in May before building and painting his now-signature blue cake shed.
He now plans to continue baking and selling regularly, bringing his creations to the local community.
Lidl has been given planning permission to build its ninth supermarket in Oxfordshire, despite concerns over flooding.
Aldi opened in Didcot in 2015 and has a supermarket at the Jubilee Way roundabout but shoppers in the town have had to wait over a decade for Lidl to follow.
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South Oxfordshire District Council has now backed plans by the German retailer for a new supermarket in Abingdon Road.
Former Didcot mayor Mocky Khan said: “This give the residents of Didcot more choice, especially when you consider the cost of living environment we have at the moment.
“The town is growing with more new homes being built, and with more growth it’s good to have a wide variety of supermarkets to fit all budgets,”
The plans for the new supermarket were first submitted in 2024.
Didcot Town Council previously objected to the scheme, on the grounds of a lack of flood risk mitigation measures, along with the county council who said there was “insufficient information”.
The town council noted there are “several flooding incidents in the area, especially when the Marsh Bridge water pumps fail”.
But in a report by planning officers granting permission to the supermarket, those issues have now been addressed by Lidl.
The officers said the proposals “largely accord” with the policies around planning, and more can be done to “break up” the car park with greenery.
Planning officers chose to let Lidl build the new supermarket subject to conditions.
They said in a report: “Balanced against this policy conflict is the fact that this is a previously developed site, which is currently in a dilapidated state.
“The proposals represent a significant improvement on the current underutilisation of the site and on its appearance.
“The National Planning Policy Framework and Local Plan set out significant support for the reuse of previously developed land.
“As stated in the applicant’s planning statement, there have been previous enquiries as to the redevelopment of the site that have not come to fruition.
“Given this, finding a viable use for the site is a clear benefit which I consider to be of substantial benefit.”
Thirty-four residents had objected to Lidl’s plans, highlighting concerns over extra traffic, there being no need for another supermarket in the town and there being more appropriate locations to build in their view.
Didcot already has an Aldi store just off Broadway and a Sainsbury’s, M&S Foodhall and Asda.
The nearest Lidl to the proposed site are in Lupton Road, Wallingford, and Marcham Road in Abingdon.
Three people wrote in to support the new Lidl, recognising the benefits of a discount food store and the further jobs it will create.
Lidl has said its proposals for a Didcot supermarket would deliver 40 full-time equivalent jobs as well as further employment during the construction phase.
No opening date was given by the retailer, while the developer is currently on site progressing with the enabling works.
A spokesman said: “We’ve seen demand for our affordable, high-quality products continue to rise in Oxfordshire, and we are committed to serving more communities in the area.
“Our new store will create around 40 new jobs and build on our continued growth.
“We’re excited to be a step closer to opening this store and thank everyone who has supported us on our journey so far.”
It also said the £12m investment would work with the 6,300 new homes allocated to be built, as per the local plan.
Dalcour Maclaren, a specialist in utilities and infrastructure, announced the news on June 22, following a detailed assessment of its operations, including governance, employee wellbeing, environmental impact, and social responsibility.
James Neil, CEO of Dalcour Maclaren, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Dalcour Maclaren.
“B Corp status gives us the official badge that recognises everything that matters most to us in our culture, our values, and how we make decisions for our people and our clients. We thrive on doing things differently at DM and B Corp absolutely endorses this.”
The certification means the company meets rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Dalcour Maclaren now joins more than 10,000 B Corps worldwide and over 2,600 in the UK, including well-known names such as The Guardian, Innocent Drinks, Patagonia, and The Big Issue.
Chris Turner, CEO of B Lab UK, said: “Welcoming Dalcour Maclaren to the B Corp community is hugely exciting. Its commitment to doing business differently will be an inspiration to others and will help spread the notion that success in business is as much about people and planet as it is profit.”
Dalcour Maclaren operates across the UK and Ireland, supporting major projects in energy, water, transport, and digital infrastructure. The company’s services include land, planning, environment, stakeholder engagement, and geospatial services.
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