Doctors are using AI software that does not meet minimum standards to record and transcribe patient meetings, according to a Sky News investigation.

NHS bosses have demanded GPs and hospitals stop using artificial intelligence software that could breach data protection rules and put patients at risk.

A warning sent out by NHS England this month came just weeks after the same body wrote to doctors about the benefits of using AI for notetaking – to allow them more time to concentrate on patients – using software known as Ambient Voice Technology, or “AVT”.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting will next week put AI at the heart of the reform plan to save the NHS in the 10-year plan for the health service in England.

But there is growing controversy around software that records, transcribes and summarises patient conversations using AI.

In April, NHS England wrote to doctors to sell the benefits of AVT and set out minimum national standards.

However, in a letter seen by Sky News, NHS bosses wrote to doctors to warn that unapproved software that breached minimum standards could harm patients.

The 9 June letter, from the national chief clinical information officer of NHS England, said: “We are now aware of a number of AVT solutions which, despite being non-compliant … are still being widely used in clinical practice.

“Several AVT suppliers are approaching NHS organisations … many of these vendors have not complied with basic NHS governance standards.

“Proceeding with non-compliant solutions risks clinical safety, data protection breaches, financial exposure, and fragmentation of broader NHS digital strategy.”

Sky News has previously revealed the danger of AI “hallucinations”, where the technology makes up answers then lies about them, which could prove dangerous in a healthcare setting.

NHS England sets minimum standards but does not tell NHS trusts and healthcare providers which software providers to use.

Sky News can now reveal there is growing pressure on NHS England and similar bodies to be more proactive.

Dr David Wrigley, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: “Undoubtedly, as a GP myself and my 35,000 colleagues, we’ve got responsibilities here – but in such a rapidly developing market when we haven’t got the technical knowledge to look into this.

“We need that help and support from those who can check that the products are safe, check they’re secure, that they’re suitable for use in the consulting room, and NHS England should do that and help and support us.”

Dr Wrigley continued: “We’re absolutely in favour of tech and in favour of taking that forward to help NHS patients, help my colleagues in their surgeries.

“But it’s got to be done in a safe and secure way because otherwise we could have a free for all – and then data could be lost, it could be leaking out, and that just isn’t acceptable.

“So we are not dinosaurs, we’re very pro-AI, but it has to be a safe, secure way.”

The spectre of dozens of little-known but ambitious AI companies lobbying hospitals and surgeries to get their listening products installed worries some healthcare professionals.

There are huge profits to be made in this technological arms race, but the question being asked is whether hundreds of different NHS organisations can really be expected to sift out the sharks.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the letter was “a really significant moment”.

He said it was right for the NHS to experiment, but that it needed to be clearer what technology does and does not work safely.

“My own view is that the government should help in terms of the procurement decisions that trusts make and should advise on which AI systems – as we do with other forms of technology that we use in medicine – which ones are safe,” Mr Taylor said.

“We’ll need [government] to do a bit more to guide the NHS in the best way to use this.”

When pressed whether in the short term that actually makes it sound like it could be quite dangerous, Mr Taylor replied: “What you’ve seen with ambient voice technology is that kind of ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’ approach has got its limits.”

Earlier this year, the health secretary appeared to suggest unapproved technology was being used – but celebrated it as a sign doctors were enthusiastic for change.

Mr Streeting said: “I’ve heard anecdotally down the pub, genuinely down the pub, that some clinicians are getting ahead of the game and are already using ambient AI to kind of record notes and things, even where their practice or their trust haven’t yet caught up with them.

“Now, lots of issues there – not encouraging it – but it does tell me that contrary to this, ‘Oh, people don’t want to change, staff are very happy and they are really resistant to change’, it’s the opposite. People are crying out for this stuff.”

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Doctors who use AI that complies with national standards already say there are big benefits.

Anil Mehta, a doctor in the health secretary’s Ilford constituency, told Sky News he backed his MP’s drive for more AI technology in healthcare.

Dr Mehta demonstrated the version of Ambient Voice Technology that he uses.

This software, Accurx Scribe, has been developed and deployed in line with all current NHS England requirements for AVT, and there is no suggestion this product breaches any rules, standards or guidance.

Indeed, the company which developed it meets weekly with NHS England on creating a standardised approach to scale the benefits across the NHS.

“I spend 30% of my week doing paperwork,” Dr Mehta said.

“So I think once I’ve explained all of those features of what we’re doing, patients are extremely reassured. And I haven’t faced anybody that’s not wanted to have me do this.

He added: “(I) think that consultation with your doctor is extremely confidential, so that’s not changed at all.

“That remains confidential – so whether it’s a vulnerable adult, a vulnerable child, teenager, young child with a parent, I think the concept of that confidentiality remains.”

An NHS spokesperson said: “Ambient Voice Technology has the potential to transform care and improve efficiency and in April, the NHS issued guidance to support its use in a safe and secure way.

“We are working with NHS organisations and suppliers to ensure that all Ambient Voice Technology products used across the health service continue to be compliant with NHS standards on clinical safety and data security.”

A man who pretended to live a “glamorous and luxurious” lifestyle while he conned people out of thousands of pounds in a designer handbag scam has pleaded guilty to fraud.

Jack Watkin, 26, who once starred in a Channel 4 documentary called Rich Kids of Instagram in 2016, described himself as the “Kardashian of Cheshire”, police say.

He persuaded people to invest huge sums – which he claimed was to buy and sell luxury handbags – but left them out of pocket.

Instead, he spent the money in Harrods and on stays at The Dorchester, a five-star London hotel on the famous Park Lane, a court heard.

A jury at Chester Crown Court heard how he gained his victims’ trust by putting forward an “outward facade of a glamorous and luxurious lifestyle”.

On Tuesday, the second day of his trial, the defendant pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud.

Prosecutor Matthew Kerruish-Jones told the jury that Watkin “engendered trust and led a number of individuals to loan him large sums of money on the promise of either a financial return or luxury items”.

“Neither of which materialised,” he said.

He added: “The defendant would make excuses and avoid the complainants, all the while spending large sums of money on maintaining his seemingly lavish lifestyle.”

Watkin was said to have told victims their money would be used to buy Hermes handbags, which were then to be sold on for a profit.

The jury was told bag purchases from Hermes were only allowed to select registered customers and, because of their exclusivity, the bags often attracted a value far in excess of their original price when resold.

Watkin’s victims included friend Hannah Jakes, who he admitted defrauding of £98,500, and Christine Colbert, owner of Dress Cheshire, who was defrauded of £43,800.

He also defrauded his father, Jason Watkin, of £24,500.

Andor Farkas, a barman at Harrods, was victim of a £14,000 fraud and had believed Watkin, a regular customer, was a millionaire, the court heard.

Watkin also admitted fraud of more than £13,000 on James Irlam, who was told by Watkin he had a personal relationship with the director of Hermes and was able to source handbags.

He also pleaded guilty to the £840 fraud of Naheem Akhtar, who the court heard had given Watkin the money for a pair of Lora Piana shoes which he never received.

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Detective Constable Gareth Yates said: “Jack Watkin is a male who has built a lifestyle on social media, on Instagram, and that lifestyle is one of exuberance.

“So if anyone was to look at that profile, you would see fancy hotels, luxury cars, designer clothing, and he created a following, and that following allowed him to create a ruse to be the fraudster we now know, and convicted fraudster.”

He added: “He often described himself as the Kardashian of Cheshire. What my understanding from that would be is that he is an individual of wealth and has the ability to purchase wealthy items, as a result of that he then gets notoriety, from an Instagram perspective, followers, people. People follow him with the desire to be him.”

Watkin was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on 3 September.

He was warned by Judge Simon Berkson he faces a prison sentence.

An architect who once criticised the King has won the bid to design a memorial in honour of his late mother Queen Elizabeth II.

Lord Norman Foster will oversee the replacement of the current bridge in St James’s Park with a “very light touch” glass one, inspired by the tiara the Queen wore on her wedding day.

He will also transform the wider park with a statue of the Queen in a new space called Queen Elizabeth II Place at Marlborough Gate, a new Prince Philip Gate on the other side at Birdcage Walk, complete with a statue of the late Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen together, and a “family of gardens” around the new bridge.

Lord Foster, known for designing The Gherkin, accused King Charles of using his “privileged position” to intervene in the plans for the former Chelsea Barracks in 2009.

The then Prince of Wales, a fan of more traditional architecture, allegedly wrote to the Qatari developers requesting more classical plans be considered over those submitted by Lord Foster.

But in an interview with on Monday, the architect said the pair are now “totally aligned”.

He insisted his previous “minor differences” with the King were in the past and “absolutely insignificant” as part of the bigger picture.

Bridge to reflect Queen’s ‘unifying nature’

The translucent “unity” bridge will represent the late monarch’s ability to bring nations, communities, and the Commonwealth together.

“The Queen encompassed, historically, periods of significant change, socially and technologically, but it was all very much with a light touch, and that light touch, the feeling should be that if you visit St James’s Park and the site in question later, it will still feel very familiar,” Lord Foster told the Press Association.

It will be wider than the current stone bridge, allowing more visitors to enjoy the surrounding gardens, he added.

“It will feel better. It won’t be so crowded, although this number of people will be going through it, and the experience will be heightened, but it won’t be ‘Oh, my god, they’ve destroyed the tradition of this park’.”

Described by the designer as “jewel-like”, the bridge’s cast-glass balustrades will be inspired by the Queen Mary Fringe diamond tiara the then Princess Elizabeth wore on her wedding day to Prince Philip in 1947.

The antique metal frame famously snapped as she was getting ready that morning and had to be rushed to the jewellers Garrard to be fixed before the ceremony.

It was of great sentimental value to the Queen, who loaned it to her granddaughter Princess Beatrice to wear on her wedding day in 2020.

Lord Foster plans for the bridge to be illuminated at night and be floated down the River Thames before being installed seamlessly overnight – without the need for heavy building work.

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The overall plans for the bridge, statues and gardens reflect the late monarch’s “formal and informal” sides, he said.

Lord Foster, who was appointed to the Order of Merit by the Queen in 1997 for his services to architecture, said: “Like many, I knew the Queen through formal occasions, but there was this very special relationship between Her Majesty and those of us who were members of the Order of Merit.

“So we were privileged to see perhaps a more informal aspect of Her Majesty and in many ways that is mirrored in our design.

“It is in some ways formal in its relationship to The Mall and informal in the gardens, and the perhaps breaking down those barriers in terms of narrative storytelling.”

Statue of couple to convey their ‘inseparability’

On his decision to include the late duke in his vision for the memorial, he said: “We showed them together and, in a way, there was this inseparable quality which we sought to convey.”

The Queen’s former private secretary Lord Janvrin, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee responsible for awarding the commission for the bridge, hailed the design’s “sensitivity”.

He suggested the Queen would have particularly liked the representation of her tiara.

“Her Majesty would undoubtedly have liked the location and I think she would have picked up that echo of the tiara in the bridge,” Lord Janvrin said.

“I think the planting would have been of huge interest to her and the contrast between formal and informal – and the Commonwealth area would have resonated with her.”

He said it was fitting that someone who knew the Queen had been chosen to design the national memorial to her.

“She knew him personally and made him a member of the Order of Merit, which is a personal gift way back in the late 1990s,” he said.

“So, in a way, I think the fact that he has been this hugely important figure during her reign is deeply appropriate to end up with this extraordinarily important assignment at this stage.”

He added that it “wouldn’t have surprised him” if the King had already seen the design.

The final plan will be unveiled in 2026 – the late Queen’s 100th birthday year.

Next, a sculptor will be appointed for the two statues. There are also plans for potential audio installations of the Queen’s voice.

Foster + Partners won the competition after being selected by the memorial committee from five shortlisted designs, with feedback taken from a public vote, as well as stakeholders and cultural experts.

The winning team also includes artist Yinka Shonibare, ecologist Professor Nigel Dunnett, who was behind the Superbloom planting scheme in the Tower of London’s moat to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, and landscape architect Michel Desvigne Paysagiste.