AI scribes swept through UK general practice in 2025 — and Heidi Health led the charge in the trainee and locum workforce. The free tier is generous enough for daily use, the EMIS/SystmOne integration works via IM1/API, and the platform is DTAC compliant and listed on the NHSE AVT registry. For GP trainees, it represents a genuine workflow transformation — but with a training-specific question that deserves honest consideration.
What Heidi Does
Heidi transcribes clinical consultations in real time — face-to-face, telephone, and e-consultations — and generates structured clinical notes in SOAP or custom formats. The notes are editable before submission to the clinical record. The EMIS/SystmOne integration allows direct write-back to the patient record, eliminating the copy-paste step.
The free tier provides sufficient recording time and note generation for daily clinical use. The Pro tier adds unlimited features and "Ask Heidi" — an AI clinical query tool that surfaces relevant guidelines and clinical information during or after consultations.
Heidi Remote — a lapel hardware device launched in March 2026 — stores encrypted audio locally and syncs when connected, enabling ambient recording without a phone or laptop visible during the consultation. This is particularly useful for face-to-face consultations where having a device on the desk can feel intrusive.
The platform has swept through the locum workforce because it is portable — unlike practice-level solutions like Accurx Scribe or Tortus, Heidi goes wherever the doctor goes. For GP trainees who rotate between practices, this portability is a genuine advantage.
Strengths
The free tier is the easiest entry point for any GP trainee curious about ambient scribing. No practice-level procurement required — download the app, start recording (with patient consent), and see the output. The time savings are real: most users report reclaiming 5-10 minutes per consultation session by reducing documentation burden. DTAC compliance and NHSE AVT registry listing provide governance assurance.
The Training Question
Here is the honest consideration: documentation is a clinical skill. Writing a consultation note forces you to organise your clinical thinking — what was the presenting complaint, what did you find, what is your assessment, what is your plan. An AI scribe that generates this structure for you bypasses the cognitive process that develops note-writing competence.
For ST1-ST2 trainees, learning to write good consultation notes is part of training. Using a scribe exclusively from day one may delay development of this skill. The balanced approach: write your own notes for the first 6-12 months of training to develop the skill, then use Heidi to save time once the skill is established.
For ST3 trainees and registrars with established documentation skills, Heidi saves time without compromising learning — the cognitive skill is already developed, and the scribe is an efficiency tool rather than a crutch.
Where iatroX Fits
Heidi handles documentation. iatroX handles clinical knowledge. Use Heidi to reclaim time during consultations. Use Ask iatroX to learn from those consultations afterward — checking guidelines for conditions you encountered, verifying management pathways, and converting clinical questions into adaptive revision that consolidates your knowledge.
The Bottom Line
Heidi Health is the easiest entry point for GP trainees interested in ambient scribing — the free tier removes the cost barrier, and the EMIS/SystmOne integration makes the output clinically useful. The portability advantage (personal subscription, works across practices) makes it particularly valuable for trainees who rotate between sites. The training-specific advice: develop your note-writing skills first, then use Heidi to save time once those skills are established. The time recovered from AI scribing is best invested in deliberate learning — and iatroX provides the adaptive, guideline-grounded revision to make that learning time maximally productive.