What is ambient voice technology (AVT)?

AVT is NHS England's term for products that listen to a clinical consultation and turn the speech into structured documentation such as notes and letters, usually with generative AI doing the summarising. They are also called ambient scribes or AI scribes.

Which AI scribes are on the NHS supplier registry?

On 10 August 2026 the NHS England Ambient Voice Technology Self-Certified Supplier Registry listed 25 suppliers, including Heidi Health, Tortus, Accurx, Anima, Tandem, Lyrebird Health, Microsoft Dragon, Optum (EMIS), Corti, Dictate IT, eConsult and T-Pro. The list is updated as suppliers are added; the current version is on the NHS England Digital website.

Does NHS England approve or endorse AI scribes?

No. NHS England states that the registry is not a commercial framework, that it does not endorse any supplier on it, and that it only carries out preliminary completion checks. Procurement and assurance are done by each NHS organisation under its own governance.

What are DCB0129 and DCB0160?

They are the NHS clinical risk management standards. DCB0129 applies to the manufacturer, which must produce a clinical safety case report and hazard log for its product. DCB0160 applies to the health organisation deploying it, which must do its own risk assessment, safety case and hazard log, with a clinical safety officer responsible for the work.

Do patients have to consent to an AI scribe?

NHS England's information governance guidance says the professional should tell the patient at the start of the session, and that the patient can ask for the scribe not to be used. Organisations may also inform patients through posters, waiting-area screens, newsletters and their privacy notice. The clinician must check every note or letter the scribe produces before it goes into the record.

Do AI scribes save NHS clinicians time?

Time spent on documentation falls, according to the studies reviewed in the NIHR-funded evaluation summarised by the Nuffield Trust in February 2026, and an NHS England sponsored study reported 23.5% more direct patient interaction time and 8.2% shorter appointments. Whether the saved minutes turn into more appointments, better safety or less burnout has not yet been shown, and a multi-site NHS evaluation is under way.

Can I use DR. INFO as an AI scribe in the NHS?

DR. INFO is an EU-hosted clinical AI with a scribe that produces SOAP notes and an answer engine that cites guidelines and literature. It is not on the NHS England AVT supplier registry. An NHS organisation adopting it would run its usual DCB0160, data protection impact assessment and device-status checks, and a clinician should follow their organisation's policy on recording consultations. You can try it free as an individual clinician.

AI Scribes in the NHS 2026: Guidance, Registry, Tools

What is ambient voice technology in the NHS?

NHS England uses ambient voice technology, or AVT, for products that listen to a consultation and turn the speech into structured clinical documentation such as notes and letters, usually with generative AI doing the summarising; the same products are called ambient scribes or AI scribes ^[5]. The point is that the clinician can look at the patient rather than the screen, and then review a draft instead of typing from scratch ^[5]. In England the Medium-Term Planning Framework directs NHS organisations to deploy AVT at pace, and NHS England has said that further guidance, templates for business cases and hazard logs, and guidance on evaluation and monitoring will follow through 2026 and 2027 ^[5]. That direction is why questions about which tools are allowed, who has approved them and what a clinician must do have become practical ones.

What does NHS England's AI scribe guidance require?

NHS England's Guidance on the use of AI-enabled ambient scribing products in health and care settings, publication reference PRN01734, was first published on 27 April 2025 and applies to England only ^[1]. Its quick implementation guide starts with three actions: assign a clinical safety officer and identify the key risks, complete the DCB0160 documentation (a safety case, a hazard log and a monitoring framework) together with a data protection impact assessment, and make sure the supplier has completed DCB0129, the clinical risk management standard for manufacturers ^[1]. The guidance asks organisations to decide for themselves whether a product is a medical device and whether it is registered with the MHRA, and says this assessment should be conducted independently rather than taken from a supplier's self-declaration ^[1]. It also expects products to comply with UK GDPR, mentions Cyber Essentials Plus certification, and reminds organisations of the right under UK GDPR Article 22 not to be subject to automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects ^[1]. Local NHS bodies keep all assurance and purchasing decisions; NHS England does not make them ^[4].

Is an AI scribe a medical device in the UK?

It depends on what the product does, and the answer changed in 2026. NHS England's guidance had treated transcription-only products as likely not medical devices, while saying that generative AI summarisation would be treated as high functionality and would likely qualify as a medical device ^[1]. On 29 July 2026 the MHRA published guidance, developed with NHS England, which confirms that AVT products intended solely for transcription, summarising clinical conversations, drafting letters or suggesting clinical codes for a clinician to review are not regulated as medical devices under the current framework ^[3]. Products intended to support diagnosis, treatment or prevention, or that take automated action such as placing orders without clinician review, are medical devices and must meet the relevant safety and performance requirements ^[3]. The MHRA stressed that this does not change the law, that clinicians remain responsible for reviewing and verifying every transcript, summary and other output before it is used in care, and that boards must review any change in a product's functionality that could alter its regulatory status ^[3]. In practice this means the regulatory line now sits at clinical decision support: a scribe that only writes the note is outside device regulation, and one that suggests a diagnosis or a treatment is inside it.

The NHS ambient voice technology supplier registry

NHS England opened its Ambient Voice Technology Self-Certified Supplier Registry on 16 January 2026, reopened applications on 3 February 2026 and keeps them open ^[5]. On 10 August 2026 the registry listed 25 suppliers: 33n (CLEARnotes), Accurx, Anathem, Anima, Aprobrium (Lexacom), Beam Up, CLAI, Corti, Dictate IT, Docwise, eConsult, Epro (Bluewire Technologies), G2 Speech UK, HealthOrbit AI, Heidi Health, Lyrebird Health, Medhaysn, Microsoft Dragon, Optum (EMIS), Pungo (Joy), Scribetech (Augnito), Tandem, Tortus, T-Pro and X-On Health ^[4]. NHS England is explicit about what the registry is not: it is not a commercial framework, procurement is carried out by individual NHS bodies under their own governance, NHS England does not endorse any supplier on it, and it only carries out preliminary completion checks against the requirements and standards ^[5]. The BMJ reported the launch on 20 January 2026 under the headline that the NHS had approved 19 note-taking tools, and recorded concerns about regulatory gaps in a self-certified model . NHS organisations can read the evidence each supplier submitted through the NHS England National Commercial and Procurement Hub ^[4].

What do patients have to be told about an AI scribe?

NHS England's information governance guidance, last edited on 7 May 2026, says a health or care professional who uses an ambient scribe should tell the patient at the beginning of the session, and that organisations may add posters, screens in waiting areas, newsletters and their privacy notice ^[2]. A patient can ask for the scribe not to be used, should say so at the start of the appointment, and the professional will respect that choice ^[2]. Before any use, the organisation reviews the company behind the product, how it was built, how it works and how safe it is, and must be satisfied that the company and product keep information safe and lawful ^[2]. The guidance also states that notes, summaries and letters made by an ambient scribe may contain errors, so the person using it must check them before anything is added to the record and stays responsible for the record being correct ^[2]. It covers use for individual care only; research and the training of new AI products fall under different rules ^[2].

Do AI scribes save time in the NHS? The evidence so far

NHS England cites a study it sponsored which found a 23.5% increase in direct patient interaction time during appointments, an 8.2% reduction in overall appointment length, and a 13.4% increase in patients seen per shift in A&E when AI scribes were used ^[5]. The independent picture is more cautious. The first phase of a national NIHR-funded evaluation, summarised by the Nuffield Trust on 4 February 2026, found that published studies consistently show less clinician time spent on documentation, and in some cases less out-of-hours documentation, but that most evaluations stop there and rarely measure patient experience, safety, workforce retention or capacity . Measurement is inconsistent across studies, so results from one product or setting cannot be assumed to transfer to another, and the authors note that documentation time can rise at first while transcribed notes and actions are double-checked . The next phase is a multi-site, mixed-methods evaluation in NHS settings that will look at implementation, staff and patient experience, and economics . For a department choosing a tool, the honest summary is that time in notes falls, and everything after that is still being measured.

Which AI scribes do NHS clinicians use?

Among the registry suppliers, several are widely used or UK-based. Tortus is based in London and states that it is the first AVT to achieve UKCA Class IIa certification . Accurx offers Scribe to the NHS practices already on its platform . Anima is a London company whose scribe is built for primary care and saves into EMIS and SystmOne; North West London ICB lists it, Heidi and Tortus as registered with the MHRA as Class I devices for their summarisation functions, and requires practices to appoint a clinical safety officer and complete a DCB0160 dossier before deployment . Heidi Health is Australian and has a UK offering with a free tier . Tandem, which has raised a $100M Series B, states a Class IIa position and is used in NHS general practice . Lyrebird is based in Melbourne, markets to NHS trusts and GPs, and lists DTAC, DSPT, Cyber Essentials Plus and GDPR among its assurances . Microsoft Dragon and Optum (EMIS) bring scribing into systems many NHS organisations already run ^[4]. Each vendor's regulatory statements are its own; the NHS England guidance asks organisations to verify device status independently ^[1].

Where DR. INFO fits for UK clinicians

DR. INFO is a clinical AI built in Europe and hosted in the European Union that does two things in one place: it drafts documentation, and it answers clinical questions from retrieved guidelines and literature with citations you can open . Its scribe separates speakers, works in a busy room and turns a consultation into a structured SOAP note for the clinician to review and sign; the same product drafts discharge letters and answers the question that comes up mid-consultation . In an evaluation on OpenAI's HealthBench Hard published by the DR. INFO team, DR. INFO scored 0.72 against 0.49 for OpenEvidence on the same 100 examples . DR. INFO is not on the NHS England AVT supplier registry, so an NHS organisation that wants to adopt it would run the same DCB0160, DPIA and device-status assessment it runs for any product, and individual clinicians should follow their organisation's policy on which tools may record consultations ^[1]. For a UK doctor who wants a scribe and a cited answer engine together, that combination is what sets it apart from documentation-only tools.

Frequently asked questions

Is an AI scribe a medical device in the UK?: Not if it only transcribes, summarises the consultation, drafts letters or suggests clinical codes for a clinician to review. The MHRA confirmed this on 29 July 2026. A product that supports diagnosis, treatment or prevention, or that takes automated action without clinician review, is regulated as a medical device and must meet the relevant safety and performance requirements.
What is ambient voice technology (AVT)?: AVT is NHS England's term for products that listen to a clinical consultation and turn the speech into structured documentation such as notes and letters, usually with generative AI doing the summarising. They are also called ambient scribes or AI scribes.
Which AI scribes are on the NHS supplier registry?: On 10 August 2026 the NHS England Ambient Voice Technology Self-Certified Supplier Registry listed 25 suppliers, including Heidi Health, Tortus, Accurx, Anima, Tandem, Lyrebird Health, Microsoft Dragon, Optum (EMIS), Corti, Dictate IT, eConsult and T-Pro. The list is updated as suppliers are added; the current version is on the NHS England Digital website.
Does NHS England approve or endorse AI scribes?: No. NHS England states that the registry is not a commercial framework, that it does not endorse any supplier on it, and that it only carries out preliminary completion checks. Procurement and assurance are done by each NHS organisation under its own governance.
What are DCB0129 and DCB0160?: They are the NHS clinical risk management standards. DCB0129 applies to the manufacturer, which must produce a clinical safety case report and hazard log for its product. DCB0160 applies to the health organisation deploying it, which must do its own risk assessment, safety case and hazard log, with a clinical safety officer responsible for the work.
Do patients have to consent to an AI scribe?: NHS England's information governance guidance says the professional should tell the patient at the start of the session, and that the patient can ask for the scribe not to be used. Organisations may also inform patients through posters, waiting-area screens, newsletters and their privacy notice. The clinician must check every note or letter the scribe produces before it goes into the record.
Do AI scribes save NHS clinicians time?: Time spent on documentation falls, according to the studies reviewed in the NIHR-funded evaluation summarised by the Nuffield Trust in February 2026, and an NHS England sponsored study reported 23.5% more direct patient interaction time and 8.2% shorter appointments. Whether the saved minutes turn into more appointments, better safety or less burnout has not yet been shown, and a multi-site NHS evaluation is under way.
Can I use DR. INFO as an AI scribe in the NHS?: DR. INFO is an EU-hosted clinical AI with a scribe that produces SOAP notes and an answer engine that cites guidelines and literature. It is not on the NHS England AVT supplier registry. An NHS organisation adopting it would run its usual DCB0160, data protection impact assessment and device-status checks, and a clinician should follow their organisation's policy on recording consultations. You can try it free as an individual clinician.

In the NHS the rules for AI scribes are now clear enough to act on: a scribe that only writes the note is not a medical device, the deploying organisation owns the clinical safety and data protection work, the patient is told at the start and can say no, and the clinician signs every note. The registry tells you who has self-certified, not who is best. The evidence says documentation time falls; what the saved time buys is still being measured.

AI scribes in the NHS 2026: guidance, the supplier registry and the tools