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An AI triage system now fielding every phone call to a Wantage GP surgery has drawn a mixed verdict from patients, with the practice reporting broadly positive feedback even as some callers describe the technology as a barrier to care.
Newbury Street Practice in Oxfordshire introduced the “Andi” bot in July, routing all incoming calls through it before, where needed, passing patients on to a human receptionist. The surgery says it has since given callers the option to bypass the AI and ask for a person directly. Its website describes Andi as a system that “listens carefully, understands how you’re feeling, and helps you get what you need quickly.”
Not every patient has found that true to life. Jo Rogers said she spent 20 minutes in a phone queue only for the bot to decide “he couldn’t help me,” and argued the system “puts you off ever bothering” calling the surgery at all. “I had to get through AI Andy’s ‘wall’ recently,” she said. Tricia Lockhart, 65, had a stranger experience: she said the AI assumed she was “calling about pregnancy,” adding dryly, “Quite an achievement for a 65-year-old.” Another caller, John Allinson, was blunter about his suspicions of the technology’s purpose: “AI is all about cutting costs and saving money” — a claim the surgery disputes.
A practice spokesperson said the goal was “to improve access, increase capacity and allow staff to spend more time supporting patients who are unable or choose not to use our digital options,” and reported that feedback in the system’s first month ran “79% positive.” The spokesperson acknowledged the rollout had been bumpier for some: “We know some patients, particularly those less confident with technology, have found the change harder, and as with any new system it takes time to settle,” adding that the practice was continuing “to review our processes, systems and feedback regularly post implementation to shape next steps including any future support our patients may require.”
Olly Glover, the local MP for Didcot and Wantage, said constituents had raised concerns with him directly, and that he had raised the matter with the practice itself, which he said, “like many other surgeries, are trying to streamline their administrative processes.” He linked the pressure on reception lines to broader strain on local healthcare: “There is clearly pressure on primary care services across our constituency, where we have seen high levels of housing growth,” he said, adding that “successive governments have not taken the need to provide health and other infrastructure ahead of new homes seriously enough.”
The surgery noted that the same AI triage tool is now used by more than 1,300 GP practices across the UK and “has been through extensive NHS assurance checks.”
Source: BBC News