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London, UK, 14 December, 2009 – BigHand, a leading provider of voice technology for the NHS, has today announced that The Buckinghamshire Adult Directorate in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has selected BigHand as the preferred supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition through the Yorkshire and Humber NHS Framework Agreement.

The decision by the Yorkshire and Humber Commercial Procurement Collaborative to select BigHand as a supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition, has allowed other NHS Procurement Hubs throughout the country to utilise the same framework agreement. The result of the NHS Framework in this instance has allowed Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to remove lengthy tender/RFI processes, resulting in them being able to access the clear benefits of BigHand voice technology more quickly.

James Kippenberger, Healthcare Director at BigHand commented;

"The Buckinghamshire Adult Directorate in Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust were looking to improve the speed with which patient related correspondence, documents and clinical notes can be made available to those who need them. This in turn reduces the time that clinical staff spend on administration, increasing the time that they are able to spend on providing high quality, patient-facing care. There are now established reasons for choosing voice technologies to both cut costs and significantly increase administrative processes and efficiency within the NHS.

The questions Trusts face is which supplier represents the best short and long term partnership for achieving those benefits. The ability to deal direct with a UK-based development team such as BigHand, as opposed to going through a reseller, means three things. Firstly, Trusts are feeding directly into BigHand's product's road map and development plan. Secondly, support is provided by the same company that writes the product, offering greater expertise. Thirdly, the additional benefit that costs can be kept to a minimum dealing direct with the developer and cutting out the middle man. For these reasons, BigHand is immediately presenting itself as an attractive option for Trusts."

BigHand software helps to facilitate the instant submission of dictations coupled with report tracking, priority settings and enhanced sound quality. These factors help to eliminate administrative delays and are becoming essential for Trusts to meet key targets. BigHand software also offers a Server-Based Speech Recognition module, complete with medical dictionaries, allowing clinicians to convert voice-to-text automatically if desired (and further streamlining costs).

Other trusts that have already rolled out BigHand technology include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Wrightington Wigan & Leigh NHS Trust.

-ENDS-

Contact:
Chris Bell, BigHand. Email: chris.bell@bighand.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7940 5907

About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney and Toronto. BigHand is the leading digital dictation vendor in the global professional and public services sector and our BigHand Mobile (BlackBerry Edition) was voted ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNET Business Technology Awards 2008. BigHand is currently used by over 760 professional and public services organisations worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.bighand.com/digitaldictation/Healthcare.html