CLEARnotes is being trialled at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) to enhance efficiency, reduce administrative burdens and improve patient care within clinical consultations.
The perioperative team at RWT is piloting the AI-powered tool, which listens to clinician-patient conversations during consultations and generates structured summaries in real time.
This marks the first step into AI-driven clinical support within the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS).
Dr Yat Li, Consultant Anaesthetist and Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) at RWT said, said: “By safely exploring AI technologies like CLEARnotes in the NHS, we have the potential to transform care delivery while giving valuable time back to our clinical staff.”
CLEARnotes is designed to reduce the time clinicians spend on documentation, enabling them to focus on direct patient interactions. Dr Manpreet Singh, Consultant Anaesthetist and Perioperative Medicine Lead, highlighted its potential impact:
“CLEARnotes can alleviate the administrative burden, allowing more clinical time with patients. The time saved can be used for anaesthetic note reviews in clinic, preventing last-minute postponements and improving theatre productivity.”
The AI tool was introduced at New Cross Hospital on March 4, 2025, as part of an NHS England-funded pilot, initially focusing on anaesthetic assessments.
Dr John Jeans, consultant anaesthetist and co-founder of The National CLEAR Programme, which develops frontline NHS innovations, emphasised its significance:
“This is a game-changer for the NHS. Nurses and doctors enter the profession to care for patients, not to be buried under paperwork. With CLEARnotes, we’re giving them back precious time to focus on the people in front of them. Patients feel heard, clinicians feel empowered, and hospitals become more productive—it’s a win for everyone.”
What sets CLEARnotes apart is its co-design with NHS clinicians, ensuring it aligns with the needs of healthcare professionals and patients alike.
Mandeep Chana, Group Manager for Anaesthesia, Perioperative, Pain Medicine, and ICCU Directorate, highlighted its broader impact:
“By streamlining documentation, CLEARnotes can reduce anaesthetic assessment times, allowing us to see more patients, improve surgical readiness, and optimize clinic capacity.”
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust hopes to expand the use of conversational AI to support wider NHS teams in reducing administrative burdens and improving patient flow.
