it was hoped that introducing new technology into Leeds hospitals to create their correspondence to patients would save millions of pounds.
The system allows a doctor to dictate a letter into a computer, while voice recognition software then creates the letter automatically from the recording, rather than it being typed up by a medical secretary.
Letters are then checked before being sent.
The kit was intended to save £2.2m by 2015, but medical secretaries were upset by workforce changes which they said would lead to salary cuts.
Now, following “performance issues”, an email has been sent to staff at Leeds Teaching Hospitals which says: “We are withholding further rollout of both the digital dictation and voice recognition elements of this programme, while this technology is being remedied.”
One worker told the YEP they had warned the system would be a “white elephant”.
“We have had many good staff leave due to stress and proposed impractical changes. We all predicted this would happen, but nobody would listen.”
Victor Boughton, from Leeds Dermatology Patient Panel, said: “We have been told it is taking over twice as long to do letters with voice activation as it was with the old system.”
A spokesman for the trust said: “Like many other hospitals we believe that where we can maximise the use of technology to improve our processes, improve patient administration and improve efficiency, then we have a duty to do so.”
He added that if staff were experiencing stress or illness because of technology, the trust would expect the issue to be dealt with by local line management teams.
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