T-Pro buys BigHand Healthcare to reach 120 NHS trusts

T-Pro has acquired BigHand Healthcare, expanding its reach across the NHS to 120 trusts.

The deal brings BigHand Healthcare's staff and client base into the Dublin clinical documentation software company, creating a combined workforce of nearly 200 focused on healthcare documentation and workflow tools.

For 15 years, BigHand Healthcare has supplied workflow and optimisation software to NHS trusts, private hospitals and GP practices. Its employees will transfer to T-Pro, and its customers will join the wider group.

The enlarged business will combine T-Pro's ambient voice technology with BigHand Healthcare's workflow products for health organisations seeking to reduce clinicians' administrative workloads and support documentation processes.

The move strengthens T-Pro's position in the UK healthcare market as NHS organisations and private providers face pressure to increase productivity, manage care backlogs, and make better use of limited staff and budgets.

Clinical documentation is a growing area for software suppliers as providers look for ways to reduce the time doctors and nurses spend producing letters, updating records and handling other administrative tasks that can delay patient care.

T-Pro's products capture clinical conversations, identify speakers and produce structured documentation for records systems. Its software is not tied to a single electronic patient record supplier and can integrate with existing systems used by healthcare organisations.

That interoperability matters in the NHS, where hospitals and trusts often operate a patchwork of record and administration systems that can slow and complicate the deployment of new software.

Expanded NHS base

The combined customer footprint means T-Pro now works with 120 NHS trusts, alongside its presence in private healthcare and general practice. It also operates in Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

T-Pro says it serves more than 1,000 healthcare organisations and 132,000 active users across those markets. Its technology also connects with more than 250 electronic patient record and patient administration systems.

The company has positioned itself around end-to-end clinical documentation, combining speech recognition, workflow and communication tools rather than offering a single-point product.

BigHand Healthcare has built its UK healthcare business around workflow orchestration and optimisation, with tools designed to streamline correspondence and reduce manual administrative steps. That installed base gives T-Pro deeper access to NHS departments already using software to manage the flow of documents and tasks.

Management view

Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Larbey set out T-Pro's case for the transaction in comments released with the announcement.

"Bringing together T-Pro and BigHand Healthcare creates a stronger organisation that enables healthcare organisations to scale AI, improve productivity and reduce administrative burdens on frontline teams. The NHS, for example, is increasingly focused on how AI can be deployed safely and effectively within real clinical environments. We believe the successful adoption of AI in healthcare depends on deep workflow integration, operational reliability, governance and proven deployment capability across complex healthcare organisations," said Larbey.

His remarks point to a central challenge for healthcare software groups selling artificial intelligence tools into hospitals: adoption depends not only on the underlying model or voice engine, but also on how well those tools fit existing governance, records systems and frontline routines.

For BigHand, the sale marks an exit from its healthcare division while maintaining continuity for customers through the transfer of staff into the acquiring business.

"BigHand Healthcare has built strong, trusted relationships with clients over many years. We believe that BigHand Healthcare joining T-Pro is an exciting step for the clients and the patients they serve. By bringing together our complementary strengths, customers will have access to greater capability while continuing to be supported by the teams they know and trust," said Toulson.

Steve Russell, who has led BigHand's healthcare unit, is also due to join the new organisation.

"By joining T-Pro, our clients will have access to a powerful offering that brings together voice, clinical documentation, ambient voice technology and workflow. I'm very much looking forward to joining the T-Pro team, continuing the success we've built at BigHand Healthcare, and working closely with clients to ensure they realise the full value of this development," said Russell.