Introduction: the new “two-sided” consultation
For the past two years, the narrative around AI medical note taking in the UK has been focused on the clinician. Driven by the urgent need to reduce administrative burden and clinician burnout, a wave of "AI scribes" has entered routine practice. This adoption was massively accelerated by the rollout of Accurx Scribe (powered by Tandem), which is now available to over 200,000 NHS staff and integrates with the core clinical systems.
But in 2025, a new twist is emerging that could be just as transformative. A new category of patient-facing AI scribe tools has arrived, designed not for the clinician, but for the patient. Platforms like Mirror by Aide Health (marketed as the "UK’s first AI scribe designed for patients, not clinicians") and Advoca Health are building a patient-centred health record.
This signals a fundamental shift in the consultation's data flow. We are moving from a model where the primary goal is "how does the doctor save time?" to one where an additional goal is "how does the patient leave with an accurate, understandable record of what was said?"
The clinician-first era: Accurx, Heidi, and Dragon Copilot
The first wave of ambient AI was a direct response to the documentation crisis. Platforms like Accurx Scribe, Heidi Health, PatientNotes, and the enterprise-grade Microsoft/Nuance Dragon Copilot all share a primary goal: to fight documentation burden. They listen to the natural consultation, transcribe it, and then use AI to structure that transcript into a clinically-relevant note, often suggesting SNOMED codes and drafting referral letters.
This model has been hugely successful at saving time, but it leaves one person out of the loop: the patient. The clinical note is filed to the EHR, but the patient still leaves the room with only their memory to rely on.
Why patient-side note-taking is emerging now
This new trend is being driven by three powerful forces:
- The information loss problem: It is a well-documented fact that patients forget a staggering amount of information from their medical appointments—some studies suggest up to 80% is forgotten or mis-remembered almost immediately. Tools like Mirror by Aide Health are designed to solve this directly.
- The NHS digitisation push: The NHS 10-Year Plan is built on the principle of giving patients more access to and control over their health data via the NHS App. Patient-facing summaries are a natural extension of this policy.
- The technology is mature: The underlying ambient voice technology stack has been proven to work at scale. Now that the AI can reliably capture and summarise a consultation, the question of "who is the end-user?" has become a product design choice, not a technical barrier.
Tool spotlight (the 2025 cohort)
Accurx Scribe (the clinician-side anchor)
The mass adoption of Accurx Scribe across 98% of GP practices has been the single most important factor in normalising ambient technology in the NHS. By integrating with EMIS and SystmOne and aligning with NHS AI scribe guidance, it has built the procedural and cultural groundwork for AI in the consultation room.
Mirror by Aide Health (the patient-first pioneer)
Mirror by Aide Health flips the model. With explicit patient and clinician consent, it records the consultation, produces a plain-English summary for the patient, and then deletes the audio. The goal is not clinical coding; it's patient recall, adherence, and empowerment.
Advoca Health (the patient-owned record)
Advoca Health is tackling the problem of fragmentation. It is positioned as a secure, patient-centred health record. It allows a patient to capture, organise, and make sense of all their health information—including a summary of their latest consultation—in a single, actionable app.
Architecture shift: from EMR-first to user-first
This new model introduces a different technical workflow and new data governance questions.
- Clinician scribes (e.g., Accurx Scribe, Heidi): The primary workflow is
Audio → Transcript → Structured Note (for coding) → Clinician Review → Save to EHR. - Patient scribes (e.g., Mirror): The workflow is
Audio → Simplified Summary (in plain English) → Educational Links → Clinician/Patient Review → Save to Patient App.
The implications are significant. The patient-side model requires a crystal-clear consent process for all parties. As Mirror by Aide Health stresses, policies like deleting the audio immediately after summarisation are key to building trust.
Where iatroX fits
This new "two-sided" consultation creates a critical new challenge: if a patient has their own summary, how do they safely make sense of it?
A patient's summary might say, "The doctor mentioned you have 'atrial fibrillation' and discussed starting an 'anticoagulant'." This is accurate, but it doesn't provide context. This is where a tool like iatroX can bridge the gap.
As a trusted, UK-guideline-grounded RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) engine, iatroX can act as the patient's "safety layer." A patient can take a term from their Mirror or Advoca Health summary and ask iatroX, "What is atrial fibrillation?" or "What are the key points about anticoagulants from a trusted UK source?". iatroX can then provide a safe, reliable explanation grounded in authoritative sources, connecting the raw transcript to genuine clinical understanding.
Benefits and risks
- Benefits: This new model promises better patient adherence and self-management (as they can actually remember the plan), and fewer follow-up administrative queries for practices.
- Risks: The key risks are the potential for conflicting versions of the consultation (the clinical EHR note vs. the patient's app summary), the complex privacy and consent challenge, and the safety risk of a patient-facing summary that accidentally gives new, unverified clinical advice.
NHS governance & what buyers should ask
This technology must be deployed within the existing NHS ambient voice technology framework.
- Practices must follow the NHSE AVT guidance used for tools like Accurx Scribe.
- The consent process must be explicit, documented, and easy for all parties to understand.
- To mitigate the risk of misinformation, patient-facing summaries should be designed to link to authoritative UK content—a "citation-first" approach that iatroX champions.
Conclusion
In 2023–25, AI scribes were about saving clinicians time. From 2025 onwards, the conversation will be about using the same technology to empower patients and improve comprehension.
The winning products in this new, two-sided market will be those that can:
- Capture the consultation with explicit, multi-party consent.
- Produce an accurate, plain-English summary for the patient.
- Securely link that summary to authoritative UK guidance (the iatroX-style approach).
- Slot seamlessly into UK and NHS data-sharing and governance rules.