Artificial Intelligence in Primary Care

I can help your GP practice team by:

• Making it quicker and easier for staff to take and organise notes
• Giving clinicians up-to-date information to help them decide on your care
• Helping with triage (working out who needs to be seen most urgently) and booking appointments
• Supporting the management of long-term health conditions, like diabetes or asthma.

Your practice should be open about how AI is used—whether that’s for sorting appointments, helping to write notes, or organising test results. Important decisions about your care are always made by people, not computers.

AI in GP surgeries might use:

• Notes and referrals written by your doctor or nurse
• Test results, scans, and data from things like blood pressure monitors or fitness trackers
• Information you share through online forms or symptom checkers.

Any information that could identify you is only used when needed, and only by people involved in your care.

• Your data is encrypted (locked and protected) and stored securely
• Only authorised staff can see your information
• All systems follow UK data protection laws, including GDPR and NHS guidance
• If an AI tool helps make decisions about your care, it must be checked and registered as a medical device by the government’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to make sure it’s safe and works properly.

• More time for you: AI takes care of admin, so your GP or nurse can spend more time listening to you
• Faster referrals and follow-up: You can get the care or tests you need more quickly
• Better monitoring: AI can help spot early signs of problems, especially for long-term conditions.

• AI isn’t perfect – it can sometimes miss things or make mistakes, which is why people should always checks its suggestions
• AI relies on good, accurate data, so it’s important that information is up to date
• Your doctor or nurse will always have the final say – AI never replaces their judgement
• AI can’t understand feelings or worries like a person can – it looks for patterns, not emotions.

• We only approve the use of AI tools that meet strict safety and security standards
• Privacy and security experts check everything before it is used
• We keep a close eye on how AI is working and how your data is used
• We talk with suppliers to keep improving the system
• We welcome your feedback and involve patients and staff in decisions
• There is always human oversight – AI supports, but people make the decisions.

Some surgeries are now using chatbots on their websites to answer questions, and special systems that help write notes during appointments called ambient voice technology.

These are clever tools that listen to conversations between you and your healthcare professional and quickly turn them into written notes—so staff spend less time typing and more time with you.

Earlier versions, like voice-to-text or dictation, have been used for years, but the latest technology is much faster and smarter.

For example, an ambient scribing tool can listen during your appointment and create a summary or referral letter for your records. There is lots of new advice and guidance on using these tools in GP surgeries.