Patients in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, are reporting difficulties with a new AI GP receptionist system named Emma, which they say struggles to understand their accents. Healthwatch Rotherham, a local health and social care watchdog, has highlighted these concerns, noting that a number of local practices have introduced the system.
Kym Gleeson, manager at Healthwatch Rotherham, stated that the system sometimes fails to understand patient inquiries due to broad Yorkshire accents, which vary across South Yorkshire. This has led to frustration among users.
The Emma system, developed by QuantumLoopAI, is designed to answer patient calls instantly and reduce telephone waiting times. However, one patient told Healthwatch that they were unable to be understood by the system and gave up trying to book an appointment.
Healthwatch Rotherham also noted that some patients, particularly older people and veterans, were so frustrated that they felt compelled to visit their GP surgery in person. The watchdog emphasised that GP practices still have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for patients, especially those less confident with digital technology or with disabilities.
QuantumLoopAI stated that Emma is designed to understand a wide range of accents and dialects, supporting 17 languages in addition to English. The company added that if Emma cannot understand a request, the call is transferred to the reception team, and patients can ask to speak to a human at any point.