Key points
- Across 914 UK general practices, locums provided a mean 14.9% of all consultations in 2019.1
- In records of 3.5 million patients, locum GPs' practice was not systematically different from permanent GPs', and both were shaped by the setting and systems around them.2
- Templates, letter wording and evidence answers that move with the clinician make every new room a familiar desk.
- A clinician's own private patients sit on their own list, and notes written for a practice's patients go into that practice's record.4
- wai is used by GPs, hospital doctors, locums and independent prescribers without their clinic buying anything.6
Summary
A locum or independent prescriber should choose an AI scribe that belongs to the clinician, so templates and letter wording travel from session to session. Every note is reviewed and signed by the clinician and goes into the record of whoever holds that patient's care.
Every session starts at full speed, with the clinician's own templates and letter wording ready in whichever room the week brings. Locums carry a large share of everyday care, and a scribe the clinician owns gives each of their patients the same careful note.
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| Item | Travels with the clinician | Stays with the practice | Agree before the first session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Note templates | Yes, shaped to the clinician's specialty and habits | The practice may ask for its own headings | Which headings the practice's record expects |
| Letter wording and signature block | Yes, with name and registration | Practice letterhead and return address | Whose letterhead a referral goes out on |
| Signed note for a practice's patient | No working copy needed beyond what the arrangement allows | Yes, in the practice's own record | How the signed note is exported into the practice system |
| Records of the clinician's own private patients | Yes, on a list only the clinician can see | No | Nothing, but check indemnity covers the arrangement |
| Patient notice and consent wording | The clinician's own script | The practice's privacy notice | Who tells the patient the scribe is in use, and how it is recorded |
| Results and follow-up | No | Yes, the practice actions results | Who receives results ordered in the session |
Locums carry more care than the statistics suggest
A 2026 study of electronic records from 914 UK general practices found that locums provided a mean 14.9% of all consultations in 2019, with a median of 7.5% and wide variation between practices.1 The authors note that this is higher than official workforce figures suggest, because counting consultations shows more than counting hours.1
A companion study compared consultations with locum and permanent GPs across records of 3.5 million patients in England between 2010 and 2022. It found no evidence of a difference in emergency admissions, and on eight of eleven prescribing safety indicators the two groups were indistinguishable.2 The authors concluded that the practice of both groups is likely shaped by the organisational setting and systems they work within.2
A clinician who brings a familiar, well-tuned documentation system into each room brings part of that setting with them.
A familiar desk in every practice
A qualitative study of 130 locums, patients, permanent doctors, nurses and managers in English primary and secondary care found that familiarity with an organisation, its patients and its staff was essential to delivering safe care.3 A locum makes their own documentation familiar everywhere they work.
The note templates travel, shaped to the clinician's specialty and habits, and so does letter wording that already carries their name, registration and signature block. Cited answers to clinical questions sit where the note is written. Each practice supplies the patient's history and its referral pathways, and the session starts at full speed.
Whose record is it
Settle this before the first session, and let the patient decide the answer. The ICO defines a controller as the person or body that determines the purposes and means of processing, and notes that a controller can be an individual such as a self-employed professional.4
For a clinician's own private patients, seen under their own name and arrangements, the clinician usually decides how records are kept, and the patient list is theirs. For a practice's patients seen during a booked session, the practice normally holds the record, and the signed note belongs in the practice's system.
Own patients stay on a list only that clinician can see. Notes written for a practice are reviewed, signed and exported into that practice's record, so everything clinically relevant reaches the practice. Our guide on who signs an AI clinical note covers the signature side.
The evening is where the time comes back
The AMA reports that 22.5% of US physicians spend more than eight hours a week in the electronic record outside normal working hours of 5.30pm to 7am.5 For a locum paid by the session, every one of those hours is unpaid.
A note drafted during the consultation and signed before the patient leaves the building closes the session when the last patient goes. Letters drafted from the same consultation are ready for signature in the same sitting, so nothing waits for a return visit to that practice.
How wai works for a clinician on the move
wai is used by GPs, hospital doctors, locums and independent prescribers without their clinic buying anything.6 A clinician signs up with an email address and can start a first consultation the same morning, with nothing to install or integrate.6
wai drafts the visit note during the consultation, in the room or on video, and the clinician reviews, edits and signs it.6 Note and letter templates are shaped to the clinician's specialty and refined as they edit, and referral letters carry the clinician's own name, registration and signature.6 Own patients live on a list that belongs to the clinician and that only they can see, and notes and records can be exported.6
Plans are billed monthly and can be cancelled in settings, and there is a seven day trial for one clinician, with limited use. Prices are published on the pricing page, and the guide to zero-price AI scribes covers what a trial should prove.
Where to start
List the practices booked for the next month and, for each, write down who holds the record and how a signed note gets into it. Agree that with each practice before the first session, along with how patients are told the scribe is in use. Our patient consent guide gives wording.
Then build three templates before you need them, a routine consultation, a follow-up and the letter you write most. Run them through a week of sessions, count the minutes from the last patient to the last signed note, and adjust the templates where you edited the same thing twice.
Bring the three practices you work in most. We show you the signed note and the export for each, on a consultation of your own.
Frequently asked questions
Does the practice have to buy anything for a locum to use an AI scribe?
Not with wai. GPs, hospital doctors, locums and independent prescribers use it without their clinic buying anything.6 The practice still decides how signed notes reach its own record.
Who owns a note written by a locum for a practice's patient?
Normally the practice, which holds that patient's record. The ICO guidance on controllers explains how responsibility is decided.4 Agree it in writing before the first session.
Can an independent prescriber keep their own patient list?
Yes. In wai a clinician's own patients, encounters and documents sit in a clinical workspace, and the patient list belongs to the clinician and only they can see it.6
Do templates travel between practices?
Yes. Note and letter templates are attached to the clinician, shaped to their specialty and refined as they edit.6
Is locum care less safe than care from a permanent GP?
A study of records from 3.5 million patients in England found locum and permanent GPs' practice was not systematically different, and that both were shaped by the setting and systems they worked in.2
What happens to the records if a clinician stops using the scribe?
With wai, plans are billed monthly and cancelled in settings, effective at the end of the period, and notes and records can be exported.6
Sources
- 1British Journal of General Practice, 2026Consultations with locum doctors in UK general practice: longitudinal analysis of electronic health recordsRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 2BMC Medicine, 2024Comparing the clinical practice and prescribing safety of locum and permanent doctors: observational study of primary care consultations in EnglandRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 3BMJ Quality and Safety, 2024Locum doctor working and quality and safety: a qualitative study in English primary and secondary careRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 4Information Commissioner's OfficeWhat are controllers and processorsRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 5American Medical Association, 2025Doctors work fewer hours, but the EHR still follows them homeRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 6wai, 2026wai for cliniciansRead 14 October 2026Read source
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