Executive summary
In 2025, artificial intelligence has moved from a hypothetical future to a practical reality in UK general practice. The momentum is driven by both policy and product maturity. NHS England has now issued formal implementation guidance for AI-enabled ambient scribing, while the roadmap for the NHS App includes plans for an AI-powered "My Companion" to help patients with guidance and navigation (NHS England, GOV.UK).
For GP partners, Primary Care Network (PCN) clinical directors, and practice managers, the key is to understand where AI can credibly help today. The high-impact use-cases fall into four clear categories: (1) patient access and triage chatbots, (2) ambient scribes for notes, letters, and coding, (3) point-of-care answers via citation-first clinical search, and (4) operational tools for reducing DNAs and shaping demand. To deploy these tools safely, practices must adhere to the national governance frameworks, including the DTAC, DCB0129/0160 safety standards, and specific NHS England guidance.
The GP AI landscape at a glance (UK, 2025)
The adoption of NHS GP AI tools is being shaped by two major policy drivers:
- NHS England's guidance on AI-enabled ambient scribing: This landmark document clarifies the conditions for adoption, mandating a "human-in-the-loop" for all clinical notes and setting clear expectations for clinical safety cases.
- The "My Companion" AI for the NHS App: The government's plan to integrate an AI assistant into the NHS App will change how patients first interact with the health service, making practice-level triage tools even more important.
Use-case map for GPs (what AI can credibly do now)
Patient access & triage (chatbots/online consultation)
- Outcomes to target: Smoothing the "8am rush," safely redirecting patients to the right service (e.g., pharmacy, self-care), and ensuring clinicians receive richer, pre-consultation data.
- Representative tools: PATCHS (AI-assisted triage), Klinik Access (AI risk stratification), Rapid Health Smart Triage (autonomous triage and booking), and the widely adopted eConsult (structured online consultation).
- Signals of impact: Early case studies from UK practices and PCNs report shorter waiting times and a significant reduction in the administrative task load associated with processing patient requests.
Ambient scribing & documentation
- Tasks: Automatically transcribing patient consultations, drafting structured summaries with SNOMED codes, and generating referral or patient letters for clinician review.
- Representative tools: Accurx Scribe (with its deep integration into UK primary care and EMIS/SystmOne write-back) and Dragon/DAX Copilot from Nuance/Microsoft.
- Guardrails: Any deployment must strictly follow the NHSE ambient-scribe guidance, covering patient consent, data handling, and mandatory human oversight.
Clinical answers at the point of care (retrieval + citations)
- Jobs to be done: Getting faster, UK-aligned answers to clinical questions with direct links to authoritative sources like NICE, CKS, and the BNF.
- Representative tools: iatroX (a UK-centric tool with algorithmic search and RAG over UK guidance), Dyna AI (RAG over the DynaMedex evidence base), BMJ Best Practice (free to NHS staff via OpenAthens), OpenEvidence (free for verified clinicians), and Medwise AI (with a focus on local guideline search).
Operations & productivity
- Use-cases: Reducing "Did Not Attend" (DNA) rates through intelligent reminders, sending targeted communications to specific patient cohorts, and predicting demand patterns to optimise rotas.
- Representative tool: DrDoctor has published documented case studies showing significant DNA reductions in NHS trusts, a model that is directionally relevant for primary care services and referrals.
Toolscape (editorial picks by job-to-be-done)
Access/triage chatbots
- PATCHS: An AI-powered patient triage tool already in use in many NHS GP settings.
- Klinik Access: Focuses on AI-driven risk stratification and has been deployed at PCN scale.
- Rapid Health “Smart Triage”: An autonomous triage and booking tool featured on the NHS Innovation Accelerator.
Ambient scribe / documentation
- Accurx Scribe: Rapidly being rolled out across the NHS, this tool transcribes, summarises, and codes consultations.
- Dragon/DAX Copilot: The ambient clinical intelligence suite from the established leader, Nuance/Microsoft.
Clinical knowledge & Q&A (with citations)
- iatroX: A UK-specific Knowledge Centre and Ask feature, providing answers that cite sources like NICE and the BNF, with a free tier for all users.
- Dyna AI (DynaMedex): Provides RAG-powered answers from its curated evidence base.
- BMJ Best Practice: Free access for NHS staff provides in-depth, structured clinical summaries.
- OpenEvidence: Offers free access for verified clinicians to its rapid evidence aggregation engine.
- Medwise AI: A UK-focused clinical search tool that includes the ability to search local guidance.
Patient-facing symptom navigation
- NHS App “My Companion” (announced): The future national standard for AI-powered health information and service navigation.
- Ada Health: A CE-marked symptom assessment tool, often used by patients for self-care and triage context before contacting their GP.
Evidence highlights
- Access/triage: Practice case studies and PCN evaluations report reduced waiting times and a lower back-office administrative burden when AI triage is properly integrated into workflows.
- Documentation: While the headline figures on time saved are compelling, the official NHS England guidance rightly emphasises the role of scribes in improving the quality of patient interaction and clinician wellbeing, with the clinician always responsible for the final record.
- Operations: DNA reduction case studies from secondary care provide a clear template and business case for applying similar technology to primary care pathways.
Governance & procurement checklist
- DTAC: The Digital Technology Assessment Criteria is the baseline for NHS assurance. Ask any vendor for their completed pack.
- Clinical safety: Require the supplier's DCB0129 safety case and ensure your organisation completes a DCB0160 deployment safety case, signed off by a Clinical Safety Officer.
- Ambient scribe specifics: Strictly follow the NHSE long-read guidance on patient consent, clinician editing responsibilities, and transparency.
Implementation playbook (90-day pilots for a practice/PCN)
- Weeks 1–3: Baseline. Measure your key metrics: time-to-first-contact for online consultations, triage queue length, DNA rates, and clinician time-to-note completion.
- Weeks 4–8: Pilot. Go live with one triage tool (PATCHS, Klinik, or Rapid Health) and one scribe (Accurx or DAX Copilot) in a controlled, step-wedge rollout. Train all staff thoroughly.
- Weeks 9–12: Layer and report. Add a clinical search layer (iatroX, Dyna AI, or BMJ Best Practice) to measure the impact on "time-to-answer." Compare your pilot metrics to the baseline and produce a report covering time saved, safety events, and staff satisfaction.
FAQs
- Which AI triage tool is NHS-approved?
- There is no single "approved" list, but examples in widespread use that have undergone local procurement include PATCHS, Klinik, and Rapid Health Smart Triage. Always check a tool's DTAC status.
- Is an AI scribe allowed in my GP practice?
- Yes, but only when used in line with the official NHSE guidance and local clinical safety standards. Examples of compliant tools being deployed include Accurx Scribe and DAX Copilot.
- What is the best starting point for getting clinical answers?
- For UK-specific guidance, a tool like iatroX (which provides citations to NICE/CKS/SIGN/BNF), BMJ Best Practice (via free NHS access), or Dyna AI are all excellent, evidence-based choices.