One in seven UK adults have used AI chatbots instead of seeing a doctor, according to new research from King’s College London. Perhaps more significantly, a quarter of respondents said NHS waiting times influenced their decision to seek AI for health advice in the first place.
At first glance, this looks like a story about emerging technology. In reality, it may tell us just as much about patient behaviour and the growing pressure on access to care.
Patients are already using AI for health advice. The question for general practice is not whether this trend will continue. It is what that behaviour reveals about patient expectations, and how practices can respond in a way that supports convenience without compromising safety.
AI for health advice is becoming a first point of contact
For many patients, AI offers something healthcare systems often struggle to provide: an immediate response.
Rather than waiting in a phone queue or deciding whether a concern warrants an appointment, patients can ask a chatbot and receive guidance within seconds. The King’s College London research found convenience was one of the main reasons people turned to AI chatbots.
Patients are not using AI for health advice because they want to replace clinicians. They are using it because they want help understanding what to do next. For years, uncertainty has generated demand for general practice. Patients contact their surgery not only because they need treatment, but because they need reassurance, direction or help deciding whether a symptom requires attention. Increasingly, some are turning to AI for health advice first.
This reflects a broader shift in expectations. Patients no longer compare healthcare access solely with other healthcare providers. They compare it with every service that responds quickly, clearly and on their terms.
At the same time, demand on general practice continues to grow. NHS England reports that GP teams delivered more than 1.5 million appointments every working day over the last year1. Against that backdrop, it is unsurprising that some patients are exploring alternative ways to find information and reassurance.
The rise of AI for health advice should therefore not be viewed purely as a technology trend. It may also be a signal that patients are redesigning their own access journeys when traditional routes feel difficult to navigate.
Evidence suggests patients are willing to engage with AI when it forms part of the healthcare journey itself, reinforcing the growing role of AI in meeting patient needs. Data from X-on Health shows practices using digital assistant Surgery Assist receive around 24% fewer calls per 1,000 patients than telephone-only practices. This suggests patients are comfortable using AI-powered conversations when they help them reach the right service more efficiently.
Related read: Poplar Grove Practice cuts annual calls by 25,000 with Surgery Assist
The issue isn’t using AI for health advice, it’s access
Much of the debate around AI for health advice focuses on the technology itself. However, the King’s College London research raises a different question.
If patients are increasingly turning to AI before contacting a healthcare professional, what does that tell us about the experience of accessing care?
Patients want healthcare interactions to feel straightforward. They want to explain their concerns in their own words, receive clear guidance and feel confident they are taking the right next step.
Yet for many people, the most difficult part of the journey is not seeing a clinician. It is knowing whether they need one in the first place.
Different routes into care can create different experiences, leaving patients uncertain about which option to choose or what happens after they submit a request. That uncertainty is exactly where AI chatbots appear to be gaining traction.
The lesson for primary care is not to replicate consumer AI. It is to understand what patients value about these experiences and apply those principles to access journeys.
Practices that provide multiple routes into care, including digital, voice-enabled and telephone access, while feeding requests into a single structured workflow, are better placed to meet these changing expectations. Patients want flexibility in how they make contact, but practices still need consistency in how requests are managed.
Providing better patient direction through care navigation can also help ensure people reach the most appropriate service before demand unnecessarily reaches general practice.
The risks of relying solely on AI for health advice
While public confidence in AI is growing, the research also highlights the importance of clinical oversight for safe use of AI in primary care.
Around one in five AI users reported deciding against seeking healthcare after receiving advice from a chatbot. A similar proportion said AI had influenced them not to book an appointment.
This creates an important tension for healthcare providers.
On one hand, patients clearly value the convenience and immediacy that AI for health advice can provide. On the other hand, consumer AI tools operate independently of healthcare systems and clinical workflows.
Unlike healthcare professionals, AI chatbots do not have access to a patient’s medical history, cannot assess wider context and cannot apply clinical judgement. They may provide information, but they cannot take responsibility for patient outcomes.
That distinction matters greatly.
If access pressures are encouraging more people to seek AI for health advice before contacting their practice, access is no longer just an operational challenge. It becomes a clinical governance consideration too.
The question is not whether patients should use AI. Many already are. The question is whether practices can offer a safer alternative that keeps those interactions connected to established healthcare processes.
Supporting patients using AI for health advice in safe way
As more patients turn to AI for health advice, primary care has an opportunity to offer the convenience patients are seeking without compromising safety.
The key difference lies in whether AI operates outside the healthcare system or within it.
Consumer chatbots can provide information, but they have no connection to practice workflows, local services or the wider patient journey. AI solutions designed for primary care can guide patients through a conversational experience while ensuring requests remain connected to clinical systems and established processes.
Solutions such as Surgery Assist enable patients to describe their concerns in their own words while capturing requests in a structured format that flows directly into practice workflows. This approach combines the accessibility patients increasingly expect with the governance practices need. It also supports a more inclusive access model, helping practices meet the needs of different patient groups rather than relying on a single route into care. As the NHS continues to focus on Core20PLUS5 priorities, that flexibility is becoming increasingly important.
Importantly, it also delivers measurable benefits. Practices using Surgery Assist see 87.5% of appointments delivered within two weeks compared with 80.8% in telephone-only practices, alongside lower DNA rates.
If one in seven people are already turning to AI before contacting a doctor, the opportunity for primary care is not to resist that behaviour. It is to ensure those interactions happen within pathways that remain connected to safe, trusted and clinically governed care from the very beginning.
Patients are already using AI for health advice. Make sure they’re using it safely.
See how Surgery Assist helps patients explain their needs through AI-powered conversations that connect directly to your existing workflows and clinical systems.