Meet EMMA: The AI Receptionist Who Answers Calls For One Million Patients In UK

Artificial intelligence has made steady progress across many professional fields, from content creation and research to data analysis and automated customer responses. Healthcare is now seeing a similar shift. A recent report by The Metro has highlighted the growing use of an AI-powered receptionist that is handling phone calls for nearly one million GP patients across the UK.

According to the news report, millions of people contact their local General Practitioner every day in the hope of securing an appointment. For many, this involves long waiting times and extended phone queues before they can speak to a receptionist. However, a new virtual assistant is beginning to change how these calls are managed.

At the Conisbrough Group Practice in Doncaster, patients are now greeted by an AI receptionist instead of a human operator. The system, introduced in October, is already being used by a large number of patients.

One such patient is Joan Downing, who has experienced a noticeable change in how her calls are handled. When she phones her GP surgery, the call is answered by an AI system called EMMA, short for Enhanced Medical Management Assistant.

EMMA functions as a virtual receptionist, helping to manage appointment requests and patient enquiries. According to reports, the same system is now answering calls for around one million GP patients nationwide, marking a significant step in the use of artificial intelligence within primary healthcare services.

The phone system, created by the AI start-up QuantumLoopAI, records patient details, prioritises their requests and signposts them to GPs.

For Joan, who cares for her brother with complex medical needs, it's been a huge time saver.

"Sometimes I'd put the phone down as I was in the queue for so long, it seemed like I'd never be number one," the 70-year-old told Metro. "But since they've rolled out Emma, it's been so much quicker. I once had a call back within 15 minutes, which is off the scale."