As one of the UK's largest single-site general practices, Frome Medical Practice has long embraced innovation to meet the evolving needs of its patients and clinicians. When the Somerset-based practice started an NHS England pilot in 2025 aimed at reimagining primary care delivery, they faced a critical decision: how to modernise their approach while maintaining the human connection at the heart of quality care.
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Their answer was ambient voice technology (AVT) through a partnership with Heidi Health. Rather than simply addressing documentation challenges, this collaboration would transform how clinicians engage with patients, capture clinical reasoning, and deliver sustainable care.
Practice Overview
Frome Medical Practice operates as a purpose-built, single-site PCN serving nearly 30,000 patients across Somerset. The practice houses more than 25 GPs and over 150 staff, creating a highly collaborative clinical environment where both informal daily interactions and structured team meetings support a shared culture of learning and innovation.
The practice describes itself as an early adopter of emerging technology rather than a passive recipient of change. This forward-thinking approach extends beyond clinical tools to encompass award-winning sustainability initiatives through their Green Impact programme and nationally acclaimed Health Connections social prescribing model, which operates directly within the practice.
Gareth Hannam, Digital Transformation Lead at the practice, emphasises their core philosophy:
"We all firmly believe that the effective use of AI should be something which enhances human connection rather than acts as a replacement of humans."
This principle would guide their approach to implementing ambient voice technology.
The practice benefits from a comprehensive care team including nurse practitioners, mental health professionals, physiotherapists, and an extensive pharmacy team. A dedicated complex care team handles home visits and hospital discharges, ensuring continuity across the full spectrum of primary care services.
The Challenge: Modernising Within the PCN Pilot
In 2024, Frome Medical Practice was selected as one of 22 PCNs across England for the NHS capacity and access pilot programme. This initiative provided a 10% uplift in staffing to help PCNs measure and address the gap between healthcare demand and capacity, with the expectation that successful interventions would eventually become part of core contracts for all practices.
Unlike many peer PCNs that focused primarily on traditional staffing increases, Frome recognised the need for scalable, sustainable solutions that could be replicated across multiple sites. As Gareth explains, their approach differed from conventional wisdom:
"Some of the other PCN sites have taken an approach of recruiting more GPs, whereas we've gone a bit more along the technology route."
The practice set ambitious metrics, including reducing GP individual list sizes per session to below 250 to improve continuity and reduce administrative burden. They added 40 hours of care navigation time to reduce patient call waiting times and began exploring the primary-secondary care interface to identify work that could be more efficiently managed.
Central to their strategy was ensuring any solution would be replicable and scalable.
"Hopefully what we're doing, including this, is able to be replicated across a lot of sites and rolled out quickly," notes Gareth.
This mindset shaped their evaluation criteria and implementation approach, particularly for digital interventions like ambient AI that could transform clinical workflows without requiring additional human resources.
Solution: Why Heidi Emerged as the Clear Choice
During the early stages of the pilot, Frome tested multiple AVT solutions to identify the most suitable partner. While several platforms offered basic transcription capabilities, Heidi distinguished itself through its ability to capture clinical context and reasoning - not just words. As GP Partner Dr. Jocelyn Gotha-Selwyn remarked:
"The most important thing that Heidi captures is the clinician's voice within the consultations."
This produced documentation that felt authentic and professionally appropriate, rather than generic transcription requiring extensive post-consultation editing
Clinical teams were particularly impressed by Heidi's handling of medical examinations and terminology. The system demonstrated proficiency in using appropriate abbreviations and structuring notes that resembled high-quality GP documentation. This capability reduced the learning curve and increased clinician confidence in the technology.
Heidi's customisability proved equally important. The platform allowed Frome to tailor documentation templates and structures to match their existing workflows and clinical preferences. This adaptability addressed a common concern with standardised technology solutions that force practices to change established, effective processes. Dr. Selwyn-Gotha said "That customisability - I don't think that's really captured in anything else we've tried or anything I've seen since," highlighting the platform's unique approach to meeting clinical needs.
After comprehensive evaluation, the clinical consensus was clear. Even with broader market awareness, the team confirmed they would still choose Heidi.
The combination of clinical accuracy, customisability, and genuine partnership approach made Heidi the obvious choice for Frome's long-term strategy.
Frome Medical Practice
Frome Medical Practice
Implementation: Beyond Standard Consultations
Frome's rollout of Heidi moved quickly and achieved high uptake rates across multiple service areas. The implementation strategy extended far beyond standard GP consultations, exploring innovative applications that maximised the technology's potential.
One unexpected benefit emerged around continuity of care. Heidi's structured approach to documentation created more consistent, readable notes across different clinicians. This improved handovers and follow-up consultations, with clinicians reporting they could more easily understand previous encounters and clinical decision-making processes.
Frome Medical Practice
Frome Medical Practice
The practice expanded Heidi's use into health coaching sessions, where lengthy, narrative-based appointments traditionally required extensive manual documentation. These sessions, focused on lifestyle modification and patient education, benefited significantly from automated capture of detailed conversations and agreed action plans.
Nurse teams and care home visiting services represent the next phase of expansion. Complex, multi-person consultations in care home settings present particular documentation challenges, with multiple participants and intricate care coordination discussions. The practice is optimistic about Heidi's potential to structure these "messier conversations" effectively.
Perhaps most innovatively, Frome began using Heidi to support internal processes, particularly their weekly multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings. By applying ambient voice technology to capture and structure these collaborative discussions, the practice found their meetings became more focused and productive.
"Applying Heidi to [our meetings] means we probably get more out of them because we're following a better structure," reported Evaluation Lead Richard Podmore.
Outcomes & Measurement
Early indicators suggest a significant positive impact on both consultation quality and clinician experience.
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According to initial metrics gathered by Evaluation Lead Richard Podmore, notetaking time has decreased by 1 minute and 20 seconds per consultation. Clinicians also report several qualitative improvements during appointments, including:
More extensive and open patient dialogue
Deeper patient engagement
A more natural conversational flow
Stronger therapeutic relationships enabled by reduced documentation pressure
Together, these findings point toward a meaningful enhancement in efficiency and the quality of clinician–patient interactions.
The technology is capturing clinical conversations “in a much better way than we ever have,” providing richer detail on patient concerns, clinical reasoning, and treatment plans.
This improvement in documentation quality has important implications for patient safety, clinical audit, and professional development. Key enhancements include more complete documentation, clearer articulation of decision-making, and stronger continuity for follow-up care.
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Uptake across the practice has exceeded expectations, driven by voluntary clinician adoption rather than mandated use. Of the 13 GPs evaluated, 8 use Heidi for most consultations, while others apply it selectively for more complex cases where it delivers the greatest value. This pattern of organic uptake suggests:
Genuine perceived clinical benefit
High clinician trust in the tool
Adoption driven by value rather than compliance
Initial feedback also highlights reduced post-consultation administrative workload. Clinicians report being able to maintain appointment schedules more easily while still producing high-quality documentation. This contributes to:
Improved workflow stability
Lower cognitive load after sessions
Higher overall job satisfaction
Looking Ahead: AI, Collaboration and Sustainability
Frome's vision for ambient voice technology extends far beyond current applications. The practice sees AVT as a foundational tool for new models of collaborative care and enhanced MDT processes.
Future applications under consideration include group consultations, where ambient technology could capture contributions from multiple participants while maintaining individual patient records. The challenge lies in structuring multi-participant conversations in ways that deliver efficient care while maintaining appropriate clinical documentation.
Sustainability also remains central to Frome's strategic thinking, reflecting their leadership in NHS environmental initiatives. The practice has begun exploring the carbon footprint of AI-powered consultations compared to traditional models, recognising the importance of understanding environmental implications as AVT scales across the NHS.
The practice is considering conducting a comprehensive lifecycle analysis of AI consultation models versus traditional approaches. Such research could provide crucial data for national sustainability conversations as the NHS evaluates large-scale technology adoption.
Clinical Endorsement and Partnership Experience
Team members consistently recommend both ambient voice technology generally and Heidi specifically to colleagues considering similar implementations.
As Gareth stated, "I would definitely recommend AVT, and I'd be very, very strongly recommending Heidi as definitely a supplier."
The partnership approach adopted by Heidi has been particularly valued, with the supplier demonstrating genuine commitment to understanding and addressing practice-specific needs. This collaborative relationship extends beyond simple technology provision to encompass ongoing refinement, training support, and strategic planning for expanded applications. For a practice committed to innovation and continuous improvement, this partnership model aligns well with their culture and objectives.
Conclusion
Frome Medical Practice's implementation of Heidi Health's ambient voice technology demonstrates how thoughtful technology adoption can enhance rather than replace human connection in primary care. By focusing on clinical quality, scalability, and sustainability, the practice has created a model that other PCNs and practices can adapt to their own contexts.
