‘Please complain in your own words’ rather than relying on AI, say GPs

Vertigo3d/Getty Images

By Daniel Pye

GPs have produced guidance for patients on how to best complain.

The guidance suggests patients avoid using AI tools as it can make complaints overly complicated which “can make it harder” for practices to understand what actually happened.

The document, which originated from Gloucestershire’s local medical committee (LMC), has been adapted by other LMCs so practices can add it to their own complaints policies.

It states practices want to understand what happened and hear about the patient’s experience in their “own words.”

Practices understand tools, such as ChatGPT, can be helpful for patients to organise their thoughts and find the right words, the guidance adds.

But they can sometimes give incorrect information, add details that are not true, include laws that do not apply, use language that is too formal to understand or make complaints longer than necessary.

This can result in having to call a patient to check the details which can then delay the response.