Tend Health's AI tool enhances clinician efficiency & care

Tend Health has reported that its AI tool, Tend Scribe, has been utilised in over 20,000 consultations, enhancing patient care and clinician efficiency.

The new AI-driven tool is designed to draft clinical notes and patient instructions following consultations. Tend Scribe operates by listening to clinician-patient consultations, producing detailed draft notes for review and finalisation by clinicians, which are then delivered to patients within minutes.

Developed entirely in-house by Tend's product team and clinicians, Tend Scribe integrates with the existing patient management system, Indici, and Tend's internal platform, Tender. The tool is supported by the large language model Claude Sonnet from Anthropic and Amazon Web Services.

Josh Robb, Tend's Chief Operating Officer, highlighted the importance of the in-house development approach, saying, "There are off-the-shelf tools for this, but we designed and built Tend Scribe ourselves to enable strong clinical governance, control the quality of the data and ensure it fits seamlessly into our tech platform. It was a critical design goal that patient data never leaves our systems."

He further explained, "By building it in-house, we have more control over the data it generates, ensuring high-quality, comprehensive notes that improve both the clinician and patient experience. Integration into our technology also enables us to collect data to continuously monitor quality, safety and equity of the tool, in a way that would not be possible with a third-party product."

Tend Scribe allows clinicians to devote more attention to their patients without the distraction of typing during consultations. It was initially launched for telehealth services and is now being utilised in 65 percent of in-clinic settings, with approximately 72 percent of Tend's general practitioners opting to use it. This has led to an estimated 30 percent increase in productivity for online consultations.

Dr. Sally McLaren, a general practitioner at Tend, expressed her views on the AI tool, "At first, I was a bit dubious, but now I absolutely love it. I can really sit and listen to my patients, and it saves me so much time and stress. I'm completely sold on it and would recommend it to all my colleagues."

Dr. Mary Hung shared similar sentiments, stating, "Tend Scribe has made a positive difference in the time saved from not having to type up notes. It also allows me to focus more on my patients during the consultation. Every time I review the notes afterward, I'm amazed at how well the AI captures the relevant details and organises them. It's especially helpful for managing complex cases. It gets a big tick from me."

The structured notes provided by Tend Scribe add to continuity of care, particularly in a team-based care model, aiding in supporting ongoing patient care.

Graham Denyer, Tend's Chief Medical Officer, commented on the impact, "The long-term data quality implications are immense. In general practice, time constraints often impact note quality. Tend Scribe ensures consistent, detailed, and well-structured clinical notes, enabling improved multidisciplinary care and patient safety."

Patients benefit from receiving clear summaries of their consultations, which include action plans and safety netting. A patient named Sarah highlighted the benefits, saying, "Right after my appointment, simple and clear notes popped up in my app—no confusing shorthand or acronyms, just easy-to-read details of our discussion and a reassuring action plan that made me feel truly heard. I love having access to such detailed notes—it gives me a sense of control over my care, and is super convenient if the condition crops up again."

Denyer underscored the reliability of the tool, "One of the key benefits of developing our own tool is the ability to maintain close oversight of clinical quality and safety. For instance, across the 20,000 consultations completed using Tend Scribe, we can confidently report that over 99 percent achieve high scores on a validated quality assessment tool even before any edits are made by our clinicians."

Tend Scribe, having started in April 2024 with Tend's Online Now service, is now operational in all Tend clinics. The technology is not used for diagnostics but to enhance the efficiency and quality of clinical documentation.