Clinical documentation has long been a balancing act between accuracy, efficiency, and the growing demands of modern healthcare. Today, with NHS clinicians spending nearly two hours on documentation for every hour of patient care, the need for smarter solutions has never been greater.
Two technologies are leading this transformation — Voice Recognition and AI Scribing (or Ambient Voice Technology, AVT). Both offer major productivity gains, but they work in very different ways. Understanding how they differ — and how they can work together — is key to choosing the right solution for your organisation.
What Is Voice Recognition in Healthcare?
Voice recognition, often referred to as speech-to-text, is one of the most established digital tools in healthcare. It converts spoken words into text, allowing clinicians to dictate letters, summaries, or notes instead of typing them.
Modern systems, like Diktamen’s Cloud Dictation Solution, are trained on extensive medical vocabularies — recognising complex terminology, drug names, and anatomy with exceptional accuracy.
These tools are fast, familiar, and reliable, allowing doctors to stay in control of how their notes are structured and worded.
Voice recognition excels at:
- Capturing dictated text instantly and accurately.
- Reducing time spent typing or writing notes.
- Supporting clinicians who prefer to review and finalise documentation manually.
- Integrating into existing transcription or secretarial workflows.
However, traditional voice recognition has its limits. It doesn’t understand clinical meaning or context — it simply converts sound to text. Structuring notes into SOAP format, identifying key findings, or populating EPR fields still requires human interpretation.
What Are AI Scribes (Ambient Voice Technology)?
AI scribes — powered by Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) — represent the next generation of clinical documentation.
Unlike traditional dictation tools, AI scribes understand what’s being said in medical conversations, not just the words themselves.
By listening passively during patient encounters (either in person, virtual, or recorded), AVT systems analyse the conversation, identify key clinical information, and automatically generate structured documentation such as referral letters, progress notes, or discharge summaries.
For example:
Instead of dictating a note like “Patient reports abdominal pain, advised Gaviscon, review in 4 days”, a clinician using an AI scribe might simply have a natural conversation with the patient. The system interprets this discussion and produces a complete draft with the relevant findings, plan, and follow-up information.
AI scribes excel at:
- Understanding medical context and extracting relevant information.
- Structuring documentation automatically into clinical formats (e.g. SOAP, referral, discharge).
- Reducing repetitive data entry and manual transcription.
- Integrating directly into EPR/PAS systems.
- Allowing clinicians to focus on patient interaction rather than note-taking.
Comparing Voice Recognition and AI Scribes
| Feature | Voice Recognition | AI Scribes (AVT) |
| Core Function | Converts speech to text | Understands and structures clinical content |
| Output | Raw dictation text | Structured clinical drafts (letters, notes, updates) |
| User Role | Clinician dictates and edits | Clinician reviews and approves |
| Integration | Dictation routed via workflow | Direct integration with EPR/PAS |
| Efficiency | Reduces typing time | Reduces total documentation time |
| Best For | Clinicians comfortable with structured dictation | Teams seeking automation and minimal admin |
| Diktamen Solution | Cloud Dictation Workflow | Diktamen Medical Professional |
Voice recognition remains essential for fast, accurate dictation, especially for clinicians who prefer full control over document content.
AI scribes extend this capability — creating structured drafts and populating systems automatically — ideal for organisations ready to embrace automation and ambient capture.
How Diktamen Bridges Both Worlds
Diktamen is uniquely positioned to support healthcare providers across this spectrum.
- Diktamen’s Cloud Dictation Workflow Solution delivers powerful voice recognition with advanced speech processing, transcription management, and seamless integration into existing secretarial workflows. It’s proven, scalable, and ideal for organisations looking to reduce typing time and improve turnaround efficiency.
- Diktamen Medical Professional, built with Ambient Voice Technology (AVT), goes further — generating high-quality, AI-driven draft documents directly from clinical conversations. This includes referral letters, patient instructions, prescriptions, and EPR updates. The solution works on desktop or mobile, integrating into existing PAS/EPR systems without requiring replacement or major infrastructure changes.
By combining these two approaches, Diktamen enables healthcare teams to match the right tool to the right workflow — delivering flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency across all levels of documentation.
The Future: A Layered Approach to Digital Transformation
In the NHS’s move toward digital maturity, voice recognition and AI scribing should not be seen as competing technologies.
Instead, they represent complementary layers of a single digital ecosystem:
- Voice recognition remains the foundation — reliable, scalable, and essential for structured dictation workflows.
- AI scribing (AVT) adds intelligent automation — capturing clinical context, generating drafts, and reducing post-encounter admin.
Together, they create a layered approach to clinical documentation, empowering healthcare organisations to improve productivity, maintain accuracy, and support clinicians in delivering better patient care.
Trusted, Secure, and NHS-Ready
Both Diktamen solutions are built to meet NHS and UK healthcare standards:
- DTAC and DCB0129 compliant
- DSPT and GDPR aligned
- ISO 27001, 9001, and 14001 certified
- Cyber Essentials certified
- UK-hosted with 256-bit encryption
Your data — and your patients’ data — remain protected at every step.
Choosing What’s Right for You
Whether you’re looking to enhance your existing dictation workflow or embrace the next generation of intelligent documentation, Diktamen has you covered.
- For fast, accurate dictation: Choose Diktamen’s Cloud Dictation Workflow Solution.
- For AI-powered documentation automation: Choose Diktamen Medical Professional with Ambient Voice Technology.
Or combine both — and give your clinicians the flexibility to work in the way that suits them best.
Book a Demo
See how Diktamen can streamline your documentation, reduce admin burden, and align with NHS digital transformation goals.