"Can we put an AI on the phones?" is now a common question in general practice, and the answers online are almost entirely written by people selling one.
This is the version without a product attached: what the rules actually are, which duty is yours and which is the supplier's, and the questions that separate a serious vendor from a confident one.
The short answer
There is no rule against an AI answering a practice phone. There are conditions, and they turn almost entirely on what the AI does, not on what it is called.
NHS England's guidance on improving telephone journeys in general practice asks practices to map out any third-party products sitting on top of their core telephony system, and to understand the contracts behind them, before making changes. That is the starting point: know what is on your line.
The line that decides everything: booking or triage
This is the single most important distinction on this page, and most vendor material skates over it.
- A tool that calculates, interprets, triages, or otherwise informs a clinical decision about an individual is likely a medical device under the UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002. That means MHRA registration and UKCA or CE marking, a substantial regulatory undertaking.
- A tool used purely for scheduling administration is likely outside that.
The guidance is explicit that admin and operations tools must be designed and documented so their stated intended purpose does not meet the medical-device threshold.
Two practical consequences.
First, "AI receptionist" and "AI triage" are different products, however similar the marketing looks. If a tool decides that a caller describing chest pain should be seen today rather than next week, it is grading clinical urgency. That is triage, whatever the website calls it.
Second, documentation is not a shield. A product's intended purpose is what it is designed and stated to do, but if it demonstrably grades urgency in practice, a stated purpose will not undo that. Ask a vendor what happens when a caller volunteers a symptom. The answer tells you which product you are looking at.
DCB0129 is the supplier's duty. DCB0160 is yours.
These get used interchangeably and they are not the same obligation.
DCB0129 applies to the manufacturer. It is an NHS England information standard for clinical risk management, published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. It requires the supplier to hold:
- a Clinical Safety Officer: a senior clinician with current professional registration (doctor, nurse or pharmacist) and clinical safety training
- a hazard log
- a Clinical Safety Case Report: a structured, evidenced argument that the product is safe
DCB0160 applies to you, the deploying organisation. It is your assessment of whether the product is safe in the way you intend to use it, which is a different question from whether it was safely built.
The practical link between them: you cannot discharge DCB0160 without the supplier's safety case. That is the reason to ask for it before signing, not after.
One honest nuance that vendors rarely mention: not every digital solution is in scope. NHS England states plainly that formal clinical safety assurance is mandated in some cases and advised in others, and provides guidance for working out which. A supplier telling you the standard definitely does not apply to them should be able to explain why.
DTAC is the gate you will actually meet
The Digital Technology Assessment Criteria is the framework a practice or ICB typically puts in front of a supplier. It covers five areas:
- Clinical safety
- Data protection
- Technical security
- Interoperability
- Usability and accessibility
It was refreshed in 2026: roughly 25% fewer questions, elements overlapping with the Medical Device Regulations removed, and the requirement for Clinical Safety Officers to complete NHS Digital's own specific training dropped. Full transition to the updated form was due by 6 April 2026, so if a supplier hands you the old form, they are working from stale paperwork.
The non-negotiable: a patient must be able to reach a person
Across the guidance in this area, one requirement is consistent. There must be a clear, immediate route to a human, triggered by the patient asking, by the AI being unable to resolve the query, or by the AI identifying signals of clinical urgency.
This is worth testing rather than accepting. Ring the number during any trial and simply ask for a person. What happens next is the most informative ninety seconds you will spend on the decision.
What to ask any vendor
Copy this list into the procurement conversation.
- Does your product triage, or only book? What happens when a caller describes a symptom?
- Do you hold a current DCB0129 clinical safety case? May we see it?
- Who is your Clinical Safety Officer, and are they currently registered?
- Are you MHRA-registered / UKCA marked? If not, on what basis do you sit outside the medical-device definition?
- Can you complete the current (2026) DTAC form?
- How does a patient reach a human, and how quickly?
- Where is call data processed and stored, and what does your DPIA say?
A vendor who answers all seven plainly is one you can assess. A vendor who answers "we're fully NHS compliant" has answered none of them.
Where Remi fits: briefly, and honestly
Remi is a booking and messaging receptionist. It answers calls and WhatsApp, books into the diary you already use, sends reminders, takes deposits and chases unpaid invoices. It does not assess clinical urgency, and it hands over to a person when a caller asks or when it cannot help.
To be straight about the rest: Remi is not currently DCB0129 assured, not DTAC assessed, and not an approved NHS supplier. We serve private clinics (physiotherapy, dental, private GP) where those frameworks do not apply. We would rather say that plainly than let a page like this imply otherwise, because in healthcare a vague compliance claim is worse than no claim at all.
If you are an NHS practice, the list above is the right conversation to have with whoever you are considering, us included.
Related reading: what a GP surgery needs from its phone system, AI receptionist for UK physio clinics, and what an AI receptionist costs in the UK.