‘More time listening, less time typing’: How Microsoft Dragon Copilot is helping UK clinicians focus on care

In addition to Class 1 medical device certification, Dragon Copilot meets ambient voice technology (AVT) guidelines set out by NHS England, including NHS DTAC (Digital Technology Assessment Criteria), DPIA Data Protection Impact Assessment), ISO/IED 27001 (Azure), and NHS DCB-0129 (clinical safety).

Face-to-face connections

Patients "feel they're being listened to more," with the introduction of clinical AI assistants, says Henry. In a recent Microsoft-commissioned report, 40% of patients surveyed reported having a consultation where they felt the clinician was too focused on their screen to provide their full attention.

Even with the best seating plan, Henry notes, "I'm still, at some point, interacting with that computer. Ambient AI removes that factor."

Dr Peter-Marc Fortune, Paediatric Intensive Care Physician and Chief Medical Information Officer at the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, agrees that clinical AI assistants like Dragon Copilot "should reduce the burden of ensuring that [clinicians are] capturing everything, so they can actually focus on the interaction with the patient."

Peter-Marc says consultations now feel more "face-to-face… like would have happened in the GP surgery 20 years ago, before everybody had PCs on their desk.

"The most important thing is to develop a relationship with a patient."

Notes need to be verified by the clinician, of course, but this can be done later, away from the patient, avoiding any disruption during those conversations.

Henry notes that reducing manual typing also lowers the mental load and frees clinicians to think.

"My interactions with the patient are probably more elaborate," he says, "because I've got a chance to go into the information more, knowing I don't have to remember it all to type it up."

In practice, using the technology means narrating key steps and findings during patient consultations can now be done without breaking eye contact: "I'm now going to examine your abdomen… it's tender on the right-hand side", for example.

And improved accuracy underpins safer care. Peter-Marc and his colleagues see "a real opportunity for capturing the detail of a conversation," with potential well beyond outpatients. Think multidisciplinary team meetings where ambient capture now "picks up a number of comments, little snippets of information" that historically would be lost in a hurried "brain dump."

Reducing clicks

Peter-Marc says it's essential the technology "fits efficiently into the workflow. We're continuously focused on reducing clicks [so] we certainly don't want to introduce a new technology that adds to the workload."

Henry echoes that the technology needed to tick all the boxes on his buyer's checklist: accuracy, tight integration with existing electronic health records, and a trustworthy partner with proven large-language-model expertise.

As UK healthcare organisations explore roll-outs across outpatient, inpatient and emergency care, clinicians using the tech emphasise two key principles: make the human connection central and make the workflow simpler. Dragon Copilot is built to do both, so doctors can spend more time listening, and patients can feel more heard.

"Dragon Copilot is transforming the healthcare landscape by assisting with time-consuming administrative tasks - such as documentation, referrals, and after-visit summaries - freeing up valuable time for patient care," adds Jacob West, Managing Director, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Microsoft UK.

"By streamlining workflows and embedding into electronic patient records, Dragon Copilot not only boosts operational efficiency, it also supports clinician wellbeing and retention.

"It's an important component in the effort to build a more resilient and compassionate healthcare system across the NHS and beyond."