AI scribe Heidi cuts NHS waiting times in West Midlands

TL;DR:

• Fifteen NHS trusts in the West Midlands jointly procured Heidi, an AI voice transcription tool now used in urgent care, outpatients and GP surgeries.
• An emergency consultant at Walsall Manor Hospital says the tool saves him six minutes per consultation; a Dudley clinic cut its patient-letter backlog from six months to 14 days.
• The tool works in 110 languages, which trusts say is breaking down communication barriers for patients whose first language is not English.

The NHS’s largest rollout of AI voice transcription is producing measurable results in the West Midlands, doctors have told the BBC. Heidi listens to conversations between clinicians and patients and generates medical notes and letters, freeing staff from typing during and after appointments.

The numbers are specific. Dr Mohammed Jamil Aslam, an emergency consultant at Walsall Manor Hospital, reports saving six minutes per consultation. At a clinic in Dudley, the tool is credited with cutting a backlog of patient letters from six months to 14 days. Beyond speed, Aslam describes a changed dynamic in the consulting room: patients “feel the clinician is present” rather than watching them type.

Ravinder Sahota, group chief information officer at The Dudley Group and Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals, points to the tool’s 110 languages as a way to simplify letters that many patients currently find too dense with medical terminology.

The results arrive as public doubts surface

This regional evidence lands in a national debate that is far from settled. Health sector bodies welcomed the national AI rollout earlier this week while urging caution on evaluation, and Healthwatch England polling published today found the public split on AI scribes, with most wanting explicit consent before the tools are used. Outcome data like Walsall’s — minutes saved, backlogs cleared — is precisely what the rollout’s defenders have lacked, but patient trust may prove a separate hurdle from clinical efficiency.

Looking forward

The West Midlands joint procurement model — 15 trusts buying once rather than separately — offers a template other regions are likely to study as NHS England pushes AI scribes ‘at pace’. Whether the efficiency gains persist once the novelty fades, and whether consent practice keeps up with deployment, will determine if this becomes the NHS AI success story it currently appears to be.