NHS Watchdog Warns 27 AI Scribes Misstate Drugs and Diagnoses

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 31

Healthwatch England said AI tools already used by GPs and hospitals are creating patient-safety risks by misrecording diagnoses, medicines and treatment advice in consultation summaries.
One patient was wrongly told she had demyelination until she challenged the record and got it corrected to “null demyelination”; in another case, a patient spotted that an AI scribe had swapped a prescribed drug for a similar-sounding one.
Healthwatch said it has heard multiple cases where patients, not clinicians, caught the errors, raising the risk that inaccuracies could remain in medical records and affect later care.
The warning cuts against NHS plans to expand AI scribes to reduce paperwork, while critics say doctors still must check transcripts and ministers have already been warned the NHS could face lawsuits over AI mistakes.
Oversight remains limited because the MHRA does not classify AI scribes as medical devices, even as experts say errors are more likely in complex consultations and with non-native English speakers.