The market for AI in UK primary care has moved fast over the last eighteen months, and the signal-to-noise ratio has not kept up. Vendors promise transformation. Procurement leads want something they can actually evaluate. Clinicians want to know which tools are real, which are hype, and which are already sitting on their colleagues' desktops.
So we built a market map. We longlisted 100 AI tools currently deployed or in credible pilot across UK primary care. We ranked the top 50 using a composite score:
deployment scale (how many practices or patients actually use it)
published evidence (peer-reviewed data, RCTs, or NICE recommendation)
plus regulatory status (MHRA class, NICE HTE, DTAC, NHS AVT Registry)
Ten categories emerged:
triage and comms
ambient scribes
prescribing safety
risk prediction and population health
diagnostic AI
mental health
patient-facing
workflow and admin
MSK and physio
metabolic/lifestyle.
Spotlight: The Top 5 Ambient Scribes
1. Tortus AI — Tortus, London, founded 2023. Reaches 3,500+ practices via its partnership with X-On Health. Listed on the NHS AVT Registry. Real-world deployment data growing across multiple ICB pilots. Paid by your ICB or practice.
2. Accurx Scribe — Accurx, London, launched 2024. 3,000 practices and over 1 million consultations summarised. Built directly into the Accurx platform most GPs already use, which removes most of the integration friction other scribes face. NHS AVT Registry listed. Paid as an Accurx module.
3. Dragon Medical One — Microsoft/Nuance, launched 2017. The long-standing global standard for clinical speech recognition, now extended with ambient scribe features. UK deployments run through the AVT Registry. Licensed per clinician.
4. Heidi Health — Heidi, Melbourne, founded 2023. Deployed across Modality Partnership and a growing UK network of 53 sites. Drafts notes, letters and referrals from consultation audio. The source of the 51% documentation reduction figure Freddie cites. Paid by your ICB or practice.
5. Anima Scribe — Anima, London, launched 2024. Built into Anima's triage and consultation platform, it generates notes alongside the online-consultation workflow GPs use for same-day demand. Newer entrant; evidence base still building. Paid as part of the Anima platform.
DOWNLOAD the full ranked Top 50 across all ten categories here:
Medicine Central is a clinical evidence review for UK primary care clinicians. Content reflects evidence current at time of publication and should be read alongside local formulary and clinical guidance. For healthcare professionals only.
