Best free clinical AI assistants for UK doctors in 2026: DR. INFO ranked #1

The free clinical AI tools UK doctors can use in 2026, ranked

1. 1. DR. INFO

   The cited answer engine with a free tier, built in Europe and usable from the UK, with a scribe in the same product.

   DR. INFO writes each answer from documents retrieved for that question: clinical guidelines, peer reviewed literature, and FDA and EMA drug sources, with a citation on each statement that opens the source ^[1]. It answers in the language you ask in, hosts data in the European Union, and its scribe separates speakers and drafts SOAP notes and discharge letters for the clinician to sign . On OpenAI's HealthBench Hard it scored 0.72 against OpenEvidence's 0.49 on the same 100 examples ^[2]. It is not on the NHS England ambient voice technology supplier registry; an NHS organisation adopting the scribe would run its usual clinical safety and data protection checks .

   Key features:

   • Cited answers from retrieved guidelines, literature and regulatory drug sources
   • Guideline search with document level questions, including public NICE guidance
   • Scribe with SOAP notes, and discharge letter drafting
   • Web app and iPhone app, EU hosted
   Access: Free tier for clinicians and students; paid plans for heavier use. Works from the UK in the browser and on iPhone.
   Pros:

   • Every statement traceable to its source
   • Answers plus documentation in one tool
   • Free to start, no verification wall
   Cons:

   • Not on the NHS AVT supplier registry
   • Guideline retrieval is strongest for European sources; NICE guidance is asked about as a public document rather than a licensed dataset

2. 2. Heidi Health

   A free scribe plan from an Australian company that is on the NHS supplier registry; answers are a separate paid plan.

   Heidi's pricing lists a free plan for its scribe with unlimited transcription and standard templates, and separate Clinician, Practice and Enterprise plans; its Evidence answers with citations sit in a paid tier ^[6]. Heidi Health is listed on the NHS England ambient voice technology self-certified supplier registry, and North West London ICB records it as registered with the MHRA as a Class I device for its summarisation function . It is an Australian company with a UK offering .

   Key features: Free scribe plan: unlimited transcription, standard templates; Referral letters and documents; On the NHS AVT supplier registry
   Access: Free scribe plan; 14 day trial of Clinician; Evidence answers on paid plans.
   Pros: Free scribing with no cap on transcription; Already used in NHS settings
   Cons: Clinical answers are not in the free plan; Documentation first; not an evidence answer engine on the free tier

3. 3. NICE BNF and CKS

   Not AI, but the free UK references any clinical AI should be citing; available only inside the UK.

   The British National Formulary via NICE and the Clinical Knowledge Summaries are free to use for eligible users in the UK, and NICE blocks access from outside the UK ^[4][5]. They are written as monographs and summaries to be read, so they answer the question you look up rather than the one you ask. For a UK doctor they remain the reference point against which any AI answer about a drug or a primary care presentation should be checked.

   Key features: Drug monographs, doses and interactions (BNF, BNFC); Primary care topic summaries (CKS); Maintained by NICE
   Access: Free within the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); not available from abroad.
   Pros: Authoritative for UK practice; Free and familiar to every NHS clinician
   Cons: Not an assistant: no answers to a patient specific question; UK only access

4. 4. Vera Health

   Free for verified clinicians and cites its sources, per the vendor; US based.

   Vera Health is a US company that offers its clinical answer tool free to verified clinicians and states that it cites its sources . It is not presented as a UK or EU medical device, and its data sits in the United States, which matters for an NHS information governance review .

   Key features: Cited clinical answers; Free for verified clinicians
   Access: Free for verified clinicians, per the vendor.
   Pros: No cost; Cites sources
   Cons: US hosted; Not presented as a UK or EU medical device

5. 5. MediSearch and Consensus

   Literature search tools with free options; better for reading the evidence than for a decision at the point of care.

   MediSearch answers health questions from the literature with citations and has a free option . Consensus offers a capped free tier over peer reviewed papers with paid plans for full features . Both are useful for finding what the papers say; neither is built around guidelines, drug data or the clinical record, so they sit further from the bedside.

   Key features: Search across peer reviewed literature; Citations to papers
   Access: Free options with caps; paid plans for full use.
   Pros: Good for reading the evidence; Free to try
   Cons: Not guideline or drug focused; Not designed for a patient specific decision

6. 6. OpenEvidence

   Was the free benchmark for cited answers; not available in the UK since 28 April 2026.

   OpenEvidence was free for verified clinicians and answered clinical questions with citations, and it is the tool many UK doctors were using before it terminated access in the UK and the EU on 28 April 2026, citing regulatory uncertainty around European AI rules ^[3]. It is listed here because UK searches for it continue; the tools above are what is available instead.

   Key features: Cited answers, US oriented sources; Free for verified US clinicians
   Access: Not available in the UK.
   Pros: Strong reputation for cited answers
   Cons: Blocked from UK and EU addresses since April 2026; US verification and US sources

How DR. INFO compares with OpenEvidence

Frequently asked questions

Which clinical AI is free for NHS doctors?

DR. INFO has a free tier that includes its clinical answer engine; Heidi has a free plan for its scribe; Vera Health is free for verified clinicians; MediSearch and Consensus have free options for literature search. The NICE BNF and CKS are free inside the UK but are references, not AI assistants. OpenEvidence is no longer available in the UK.

Is DR. INFO free in the UK?

Yes, there is a free tier for clinicians and students, with paid plans for heavier use. It works from the UK in the browser at app.drinfo.ai and on the iPhone app.

Can I use ChatGPT as a clinical assistant in the NHS?

ChatGPT is a general assistant, not a clinical tool: it does not retrieve guidelines for each answer or cite sources you can check, and how it may be used with patient information is a matter for your organisation's policy. Our page on ChatGPT for clinical use covers the risks in detail. A clinical answer engine that cites its sources is the safer default for a clinical question.

Which free tool cites NICE guidelines?

DR. INFO retrieves documents per question and can be asked about NICE guidelines, which are public, citing the source it used. It is not affiliated with NICE; the guideline on the NICE website is the version to rely on.

Are any of these free tools approved by the NHS?

NHS England does not approve or endorse clinical AI tools. For ambient scribes it keeps a self-certified supplier registry, on which Heidi is listed, and it states that the registry is not an endorsement. Any tool used with patient information in an NHS organisation goes through that organisation's own clinical safety and data protection process.

Is OpenEvidence free in the UK?

No. It was free for verified clinicians, but access from the UK and the EU was terminated on 28 April 2026 and has not been restored.

References

1. 1.Corga Da Silva R, Romano M, Mendes T, et al. DR. INFO at the Point of Care: A Prospective Pilot Study of Physician-Perceived Value of an Agentic Artificial Intelligence Clinical Assistant. Cureus. 2026.
2. 2.Ravichandran S, Kumar S, Corga Da Silva R, Romano M, et al. OpenAI’s HealthBench in Action: Evaluating an LLM-Based Medical Assistant on Realistic Clinical Queries. arXiv:2509.02594. 2026.
3. 3.Breaking: OpenEvidence app access terminated in the UK and EU. Telehealth and Telecare Aware. 28 April 2026.
4. 4.NICE. BNF is only available in the UK.
5. 5.NICE. Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) are only available to eligible users within the UK.
6. 6.Heidi Health. Pricing: Free, Clinician, Practice and Enterprise plans. Company website.
7. 7.Heidi Health. Heidi AI, United Kingdom. Company website.
8. 8.NHS England Digital. Ambient Voice Technology Self-Certified Supplier Registry. Last edited 10 August 2026.
9. 9.North West London Integrated Care Board. AI scribes: Heidi, Tortus and Anima.
10. 10.Vera Health, company profile and product (free, US based, not CE marked).
11. 11.MediSearch. Company website.
12. 12.Consensus. Company website.
13. 13.The US-based medical search engine OpenEvidence is down in Europe: a commentary on regulatory complexities. Intelligence-Based Medicine. 2026.
14. 14.DR. INFO. AI medical scribe with SOAP notes: how DR. INFO does it.