--- title: AI scribes are getting drug names and diagnoses wrong in... description: Healthwatch England has warned that AI scribes used by GPs and hospital doctors in the NHS are mistranscribing drug names and diagnoses, with patients often... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AI scribes are getting drug names and diagnoses wrong in NHS records | daily.dev og:description: Healthwatch England has warned that AI scribes used by GPs and hospital doctors in the NHS are mistranscribing drug names and diagnoses, with patients often... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/VFnMIeXRU.png og:image:alt: AI scribes are getting drug names and diagnoses wrong in NHS records og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI scribes are getting drug names and diagnoses wrong in NHS records **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Healthwatch England has warned that AI scribes used by GPs and hospital doctors in the NHS are mistranscribing drug names and diagnoses, with patients often the first to spot the errors. Twenty-seven different AI scribe products are in use across England's health service, and none is classified as a medical device by the MHRA, meaning they escape safety and effectiveness testing before deployment. Documented errors include a swapped drug name, an omitted prescription instruction, and a fabricated statement about continuing Prozac. The MHRA issued guidance clarifying that pure transcription tools are not devices while ones suggesting diagnoses or treatment may be, creating an incentive for vendors to market their tools as passive transcribers to avoid regulation. Patient advocates and clinicians are calling for patients to be informed when a scribe is used and given their notes to check. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Are AI medical scribes classified as medical devices in the UK? Not automatically. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published guidance clarifying that a system which only transcribes what was said is not classified as a medical device, while one that suggests a diagnosis or treatment may well be. This distinction depends heavily on how each vendor markets and describes its product. _Teams evaluating clinical AI tools can follow regulatory shifts like this via daily.dev before deployment decisions are made._ ### What kinds of errors have been found in NHS AI scribe transcriptions? Documented errors include a scribe dropping the word 'null' from a test result, changing 'null demyelination' into a diagnosis of demyelination; a swapped prescription drug with a similar-sounding name; an omitted instruction to renew migraine medication; and a fabricated statement about a patient continuing Prozac that was never discussed by the doctor. _Developers building transcription or documentation AI can track real-world failure patterns like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Sick and wrong: Ontario auditors find doctors' AI note takers routinely blow basic facts](https://daily.dev/posts/sick-and-wrong-ontario-auditors-find-doctors-ai-note-takers-routinely-blow-basic-facts-jwyn37ihh) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI doctor's assistant swayed to change scrips - researchers](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-doctor-s-assistant-swayed-to-change-scrips---researchers-psnhcfjjc) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why you should refuse to let your doctor record you](https://daily.dev/posts/why-you-should-refuse-to-let-your-doctor-record-you-b6rvl5slw) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#healthcare](https://daily.dev/tags/healthcare), [#ai-safety](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-safety), [#regulation](https://daily.dev/tags/regulation) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AI scribes are getting drug names and diagnoses wrong in NHS records","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T08:56:09.553Z","dateModified":"2026-08-31T08:56:33.026Z","description":"Healthwatch England has warned that AI scribes used by GPs and hospital doctors in the NHS are mistranscribing drug names and diagnoses, with patients often...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f5e128ceef45a0f5a20dc549b330fe4e?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f5e128ceef45a0f5a20dc549b330fe4e?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"healthcare,ai-safety,regulation","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI scribes are getting drug names and diagnoses wrong in NHS records"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-scribes-are-getting-drug-names-and-diagnoses-wrong-in-nhs-records-vfnmiexru#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Are AI medical scribes classified as medical devices in the UK?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Not automatically. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published guidance clarifying that a system which only transcribes what was said is not classified as a medical device, while one that suggests a diagnosis or treatment may well be. This distinction depends heavily on how each vendor markets and describes its product. Teams evaluating clinical AI tools can follow regulatory shifts like this via daily.dev before deployment decisions are made."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What kinds of errors have been found in NHS AI scribe transcriptions?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Documented errors include a scribe dropping the word 'null' from a test result, changing 'null demyelination' into a diagnosis of demyelination; a swapped prescription drug with a similar-sounding name; an omitted instruction to renew migraine medication; and a fabricated statement about a patient continuing Prozac that was never discussed by the doctor. Developers building transcription or documentation AI can track real-world failure patterns like these on daily.dev."}}]} ```