For years, the prevailing wisdom in health technology was that a single, monolithic system—one giant platform to do everything—was the ultimate goal. The reality, however, has often been clunky, inflexible software that is a master of none. We are now in the era of "the great unbundling," a market trend where specialised, best-in-class AI tools are outperforming large, all-in-one systems for specific, high-value tasks.
This shift is profoundly impacting UK primary care. Instead of waiting for a single EHR provider to solve every problem, innovative practices and Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are now building their own "best-of-breed" technology stacks. This article explores this trend, profiling the niche AI tools that are winning, and explains how modern interoperability standards like FHIR are making this modular approach not just possible, but safe and effective for the future.
The power of specialisation: profiling the new clinical co-pilots
The success of the unbundling trend is driven by tools that do one job exceptionally well.
For clinical notes: Accurx Scribe
The administrative burden of writing clinical notes is a major driver of burnout. Accurx Scribe is a specialised tool designed to solve this one problem. As an ambient AI scribe, it listens to the consultation and automatically generates a structured, accurate clinical note. By focusing solely on this task, it can deliver a high-quality output that saves clinicians valuable time on every single patient encounter.
For patient triage: Anima
Managing patient demand and ensuring they are directed to the right care is a huge operational challenge. Anima is a dedicated AI-powered triage and workflow automation tool. It gathers a comprehensive history from the patient before they even speak to a clinician, ensuring that every request is complete and appropriately prioritised. Its specialisation in triage means it can handle the complex logic of routing patients far more effectively than a generic module within a larger system.
For clinical Q&A: iatroX
In the middle of a busy clinic, clinicians need fast, reliable answers to specific questions. iatroX is a specialist AI tool for clinical question-answering. It is designed to provide rapid, evidence-based answers from a curated library of trusted UK guidelines and peer-reviewed research. By focusing on this "search and synthesis" task, it can deliver precise, cited information much faster than a generalist tool, supporting evidence-based practice at the point of care.
Building your "best-of-breed" technology stack: a framework for practices & PCNs
The unbundling of technology means you are no longer locked into a single vendor's vision. Instead, you can act as a system integrator, choosing the best tool for each specific job in your practice. A modern, best-of-breed stack for a UK GP practice might look like this:
- The Core System (EHR): Your EMIS or SystmOne remains the central, legal record and the ultimate source of truth for patient data.
- The "Digital Front Door": A specialised tool like Anima manages all inbound patient demand, from appointment requests to administrative queries, ensuring they are properly triaged and coded before they even hit the clinical workflow.
- The Consultation Layer: During the consultation, a tool like Accurx Scribe handles the documentation, freeing the clinician to focus on the patient.
- The Knowledge Layer: For in-consultation or post-clinic queries, a Q&A tool like iatroX provides the rapid evidence synthesis needed to support clinical decisions.
In this model, each component is chosen because it is the best at what it does, creating a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
The glue that holds it all together: why interoperability and FHIR are essential
This modular, "best-of-breed" approach is only possible because of modern interoperability standards. The most important of these is FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources).
FHIR is essentially a universal language that allows different healthcare software systems to talk to each other securely and efficiently. It provides a set of common rules for how to structure and exchange data, such as patient demographics, appointments, and clinical observations.
For a practice building a modular stack, FHIR is the essential glue. It allows:
- Anima to securely pass the triaged patient information into the correct EMIS or SystmOne record.
- Accurx Scribe to write the finalised clinical note back into the EHR with the correct coding.
- All tools to be accessed via a single, secure login, reducing administrative friction for clinicians.
Without robust interoperability standards like FHIR, a best-of-breed approach would create a series of disconnected data silos, increasing risk and inefficiency. With them, it creates a seamless, powerful, and adaptable clinical workflow.
Conclusion: a more flexible and powerful future
The great unbundling of health technology is a huge opportunity for UK healthcare. It allows practices and PCNs to move away from the limitations of monolithic, one-size-fits-all systems and towards a more flexible, powerful, and clinician-friendly future.
By embracing specialised AI tools that excel at specific tasks—like Accurx Scribe for notes, Anima for triage, and iatroX for Q&A—and insisting on the robust interoperability standards that allow them to work together, you can build a technology stack that is truly fit for the demands of modern primary care.