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# Patients call a GP surgery's AI receptionist a "wall": the lesson for clinics
- URL: https://www.morningsurgery.com/patients-call-a-gp-surgerys-ai-receptionist-a-wall-the-lesson-for-clinics/
- Published: 2026-10-22T10:55:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T10:55:38.000Z
- Description: An Oxfordshire practice routes every call through AI first. Patients say it is a barrier; the practice says most feedback is positive. What self-pay clinics should take from it.
- Author: Dr Hassan Maimouni
- Tags: AI & Technology, Private GP

Since July 2026, every call to the Newbury Street Practice in Wantage, Oxfordshire, has gone first through an AI phone system called "AI Andi", which triages callers and can pass them to a human receptionist. Some patients say it has become a barrier, according to a BBC report based on Local Democracy Reporting Service material.

## What patients say

Patients described the system as a "wall" between them and care. One said she waited 20 minutes before the system decided it could not help, and that it "puts you off ever bothering". Another said it wrongly decided she was calling about a pregnancy. The local MP, Olly Glover, has taken up residents' complaints with the practice.

## What the practice says

The practice reports 79% positive feedback in the first month. It says the system passed NHS assurance checks, is used by more than 1,300 practices, and frees staff to help patients who cannot or will not use digital routes. It accepts the change has been harder for some patients and is reviewing feedback. The system's supplier was not named.

This is an NHS practice, but AI receptionists are increasingly being sold to private clinics too.

## Analysis: what it means for your clinic

For a self-pay clinic, the phone is often where a booking is won or lost. An NHS patient who hits a wall has to persist; a private patient can simply call another clinic. If you are considering an AI receptionist: make reaching a human quick and obvious, especially for older or anxious callers; test it with real patients before routing every call through it, and keep human cover at busy times; track abandoned calls and lost bookings, not just satisfaction scores; and tell callers they are speaking to an AI and what it can and cannot do.

What to watch next: whether the practice changes its set-up after reviewing feedback.

Sources: Resultsense (15 October 2026), reporting BBC News (14 October 2026).