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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Denis Campbell Health policy editor

Doctors’ AI scribes get names of drugs and diagnoses wrong, NHS watchdog warns

Doctor and patient in a consulting room at a GP surgery
The government’s 10-year health plan for the NHS in England expects AI scribes to ‘liberate staff from their current burden of bureaucracy and administration’. Photograph: Stephen Barnes/Medical/Alamy

AI technology that listens to and transcribes patients’ consultations with doctors can put them at risk by getting the names of drugs and illnesses wrong, an NHS watchdog has warned.

In one case a woman was left badly shaken when the AI scribe’s summary of her conversation wrongly said she had demyelination – serious nerve damage that can lead to multiple sclerosis.

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