TORTUS, whose Ambient Voice Technology (AVT) was described as a “game changer” by Health Secretary Wes Streeting in a recent government announcement, has today confirmed a strategic partnership with X-on Health, the largest primary care telephony provider in the UK, serving over 3,500 GP surgeries.
The partnership will make Surgery Intellect, powered by TORTUS, a sophisticated clinical AI assistant, available to all GP practices across the UK, regardless of their existing telephony provider, with additional benefits to existing X-on Health Surgery Connect users.
Surgery Intellect listens to face to face and telephone consultations and automatically generates accurate clinical notes, referral letters, clinical coding, and administrative tasks in real-time.
Early independent TORTUS users have reported saving an average of four minutes per consultation, significantly easing workload pressures in primary care.
For Surgery Connect customers, there will the added benefit of being able to deploy Surgery Intellect anywhere in the call flow, for example to transcribe incoming telephone calls at reception or voicemails.
Commenting on the use of TORTUS, Dr Nadeem Ahmed, a GP at Crosslands Surgery in North West London, said: “TORTUS is a real godsend! I can’t stress enough how it has transformed my day – I was much more relaxed and really enjoyed speaking to patients more than I have done for a long while!”
Julian Coe, Managing Director of X-on Health, said: “After several years of working together, we’re tremendously excited to finally announce our partnership with TORTUS.
“Many organisations are looking into AI medical scribes, but only a select few can achieve the rigorous clinical safety standards required by MHRA-certified medical devices.
“TORTUS sets that benchmark.
“Integrating Surgery Intellect into our Surgery Connect and Surgery Assist platforms will unify previously fragmented systems into a streamlined, intelligent Care Navigation platform, ultimately improving patient access and easing pressures on GP practices.”
Dr Dom Pimenta, NHS clinician and CEO and co-founder of TORTUS, added: “X-on Health was the clear choice as our primary care partner.
“Their telephony systems sit at the heart of GP patient access, with over 40 million calls a month, and our combined offering directly addresses NHS connectivity challenges.
“With TORTUS already operational nationwide in hospitals and ambulance services, this collaboration sets a new standard for connected, efficient healthcare delivery, significantly improving clinicians’ working lives.”
Surgery Intellect sets the clinical standard with unrivalled clinical safety and assurance.
TORTUS currently holds UK MHRA Class I Medical Device registration and is in the advanced stages of filing a Class IIa application.
Both companies rigorously adhere to NHS Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC), Clinical Safety compliance (DCB0129), GDPR, NHS Data Security & Protection Toolkit (DSPT), and Cyber Essentials Plus.
TORTUS, the fast growing British clinical AI company has recently completed Europe’s largest clinical study of ambient voice technology, conducted across NHS primary care, emergency departments, ambulance services and hospitals in London.
Results from this landmark trial will be published later this year, with initial findings already described as “very promising.”
An additional publication detailing TORTUS’s rigorous clinical evaluation framework will soon appear separately in the journal Nature Digital Medicine.
Further innovations and capabilities between the partnership are actively in development and are set to further enhance primary care delivery across England.
