AI scribes swept through UK general practice in 2025. The NHSE AVT registry now lists 19 approved suppliers. Three dominate the market.
The Big Three
Heidi Health. Free tier generous enough for daily use. Portable — your personal account works in any practice. EMIS/SystmOne integration. "Ask Heidi" clinical decision support. Heidi Remote lapel hardware (launched March 2026) for ambient recording. DTAC compliant, NHSE AVT listed. The easiest entry point for trainees.
Accurx Scribe. Built into the Accurx platform used by 98% of UK GP practices. SNOMED-coded notes with direct EHR write-back. Links transcript to initial triage request. Ephemeral audio processing. Zero-friction adoption if your practice uses Accurx (it almost certainly does). Practice-level feature, not individually purchasable.
Tortus AI (Surgery Intellect). 3,500+ practices via X-on Health partnership. MHRA Class I registered (Class IIa pending). Structured summaries, referral letter drafts, clinical code suggestions. 4 minutes saved per consultation. DTAC, GDPR, DSPT, Cyber Essentials Plus. Practice-level procurement.
For GP Trainees Specifically
Portability matters. If you rotate between practices (most trainees do), Heidi is the only option that travels with you. Accurx and Tortus require your practice to have adopted them.
Clinical skill development. Documentation is a clinical skill. Writing consultation notes develops clinical reasoning — organising your assessment, structuring your plan. ST1-ST2 trainees should develop this skill manually before relying on ambient scribing. ST3 trainees and registrars with established documentation skills can use scribes as efficiency tools.
Patient consent. All ambient scribes require patient notification. Develop a natural, confident way of informing patients that the consultation is being transcribed — awkwardness at this stage undermines the time savings downstream.
Where iatroX Fits
Scribes reclaim clinical time. The question is what you do with it. iatroX turns that reclaimed time into structured learning — adaptive revision, clinical Q&A, and reflective CPD.