When an ambient scribe is used during care, patients need to know what the tool is doing. NHS England’s professional guidance explains transparency, objections and the continuing responsibility for the resulting notes.
Information before using NHS AI scribes
For individual care, the guidance says patients and service users must be informed at the start of a session when an ambient scribe is being used. It provides example wording explaining that the tool records a conversation to help draft notes, which the professional will review and edit. Information about how scribes are used should also be available through the organisation’s privacy notice.
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/information-governance/guidance/using-ai-enabled-ambient-scribing-products-in-health-and-care-settings/guidance-for-health-and-care-professionals
How the guidance treats objections
The guidance distinguishes asking for explicit consent from informing people and allowing them to dissent. For the individual-care use it describes, it explains reliance on implied consent under the common law duty of confidentiality. It also says a person’s continuing objection should be respected and that organisations may have local procedures for recording objections. This is a summary of that specific guidance, rather than a rule for every possible use of recordings or AI.
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/information-governance/guidance/using-ai-enabled-ambient-scribing-products-in-health-and-care-settings/guidance-for-health-and-care-professionals
A tool for documentation, with human responsibility
The use of a scribe does not transfer responsibility for the record to software. The professional must check the notes and correct errors before they are used in records. NHS England’s deployment guidance also addresses clinical safety, information governance and staff training. These safeguards explain why the patient-facing description should cover both the tool’s purpose and the person responsible for its output.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/guidance-on-the-use-of-ai-enabled-ambient-scribing-products-in-health-and-care-settings/
Sources and further reading
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/information-governance/guidance/using-ai-enabled-ambient-scribing-products-in-health-and-care-settings/guidance-for-health-and-care-professionals
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/guidance-on-the-use-of-ai-enabled-ambient-scribing-products-in-health-and-care-settings/