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Responses > 160-2022

Freedom of Information request 160-2022

Response published: 7 January 2023

FOI Request

Good morning, In line with the freedom of information act, please could you let me know the following information in accordance with your guidelines: 1. 1. Do you currently use digital dictation? Yes/No 2. If yes, who is your provider for digital dictation? 3. If no, what is your process for letter production? 4. What is the contract end date for your current digital dictation provider? 5. Do you use outsourced transcription or speech recognition or both? 6. Who are your suppliers for each? 7. What is the contract end date for these suppliers? 8. What EPR and PAS system is used? 9. What is your current letter turnaround time target from appointment to letter sent to the GP.? 10. Are you compliant with this target? 11. Do your teams suffer from letter backlogs due to capacity? 12. How many secretarial/admin staff are employed to support outpatient letter production? I look forward to hearing from you.

FOI Response

Trust HQ
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Brockworth
Gloucester
GL3 4AW
Tel: 0300 421 8100
E-mail: freedomofinformation@ghc.nhs.uk Website: www.ghc.nhs.uk
Date: 13TH July 2022
Freedom of Information Request – Ref: FOI 160-2022
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find our response below:
1. Do you currently use digital dictation? Yes
2. If yes, who is your provider for digital dictation? BigHand 3. If no, what is your process for letter production?
4. What is the contract end date for your current digital dictation provider? 31st March 2023
5. Do you use outsourced transcription or speech recognition or both? Speech Recognition integral to the software
6. Who are your suppliers for each? BigHand uses Nuances/Microsoft’s Dragon engine to transcribe the audio files
7. What is the contract end date for these suppliers? 31st March 2023
8. What EPR and PAS system is used? We use RiO and SystmOne systems.
9. What is your current letter turnaround time target from appointment to letter sent to the GP.? Varies but in many cases, we turn letters around on the day of transcription in most cases. Each department has their own targets of which we are not aware of in its entirety.
10. Are you compliant with this target? Yes
11. Do your teams suffer from letter backlogs due to capacity? We are sure they do but we have not accurately measured this throughout the trust from our perspective.
12. How many secretarial/admin staff are employed to support outpatient letter production? This varies from department to department, and I do not have specific information regarding outpatients at present. BigHand is used mainly to support the mental health side of the trust and in that respect, we have 150 admin staff supporting the Authors.
Should you have any queries in relation to our response in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your request and wish to ask us to review our response, you should write to: –
– Head of Legal Services / Associate Director of Corporate Governance Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Gloucester Business Park
Brockworth
GLOUCESTER GL3 4AW
If you are not content with the outcome of any review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office ICO. for further advice/guidance. Generally, the ICO will not consider your case unless you have exhausted your enquiries with the Trust which should include considering the use of the Trust’s formal complaints procedure. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Officer
On behalf of Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust