Key points
- Bath and North East Somerset grew 9.9% between the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 193,400 residents, faster than the South West's 7.8%.1
- CQC Regulation 9 asks for care that meets each person's needs and reflects their preferences, assessed together with them.2
- The GMC's guidance on decision making and consent puts the exchange of information between clinician and patient at the centre of every decision.3
- Marketing texts to patients need specific consent, with a narrow exception for the clinic's own previous customers who were given a clear chance to opt out.4
- wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic.
Summary
A Bath clinic can use AI for notes and patient messages when care stays shaped by each patient's needs and preferences as CQC Regulation 9 expects, its doctors share information the way the GMC's consent guidance describes, and any marketing text goes only to patients who agreed to it. With wai, a person at the clinic approves every draft, the clinician signs every note and the records are hosted in the United Kingdom.
Every enquiry answered the evening it arrives, and a diary that fills weeks ahead with patients who know exactly what to expect. Bath and North East Somerset is growing faster than the South West, and its patients choose a clinic by how well it listens.1
See it in your clinicThirty minutes on your own patients and doctors.
Request a demoSee a Bath clinic's evening enquiry become an approved reply, a booking paid in pounds and an intake that records the patient's preferences, in fifteen minutes with a clinician who uses wai daily.
| Body or rule | What it requires | What to check | How wai meets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CQC, Regulation 9 | Care that meets needs and reflects preferences, assessed with the patient | Where preferences are recorded before the first visit | Intake questionnaire sent with every booking confirmation |
| GMC, decision making and consent | Information shared so the patient can decide, with time and support | How the scribe is explained and the answer noted | The note stays a draft until the clinician signs it |
| ICO, electronic mail marketing | Specific consent for marketing texts, or the soft opt-in with an opt-out in every message | Which patients agreed to offers | Every message and approval logged in the patient's thread |
| Hosting | Records kept under UK law | Where records sit and who processes them | Records hosted in the United Kingdom, subprocessors named with thirty days notice |
The private care market in Bath
Bath and North East Somerset grew from around 176,000 residents in 2011 to around 193,400 in 2021, ahead of both the South West at 7.8% and England at 6.6%.1 Its median age fell from 40 to 39, five years below the South West's 44.1
Residents aged 50 to 64 rose by just over 4,200, a 13.2% increase, while those aged 35 to 49 fell by around 2,300.1 65.3% of households owned their home and 19.3% rented privately, up from 16.9% in 2011.1 Visitors and university students add a second, shorter-stay group of patients through the year.
The rules a Bath clinic works under
Person-centred care. CQC Regulation 9 requires care and treatment that is appropriate, meets each person's needs and reflects their preferences, with the assessment carried out collaboratively with the patient.2 An intake questionnaire that records preferences before the first visit, and a note that carries them into the consultation, is the practical form of that rule.
Consent conversations. The GMC's guidance on decision making and consent says the exchange of information between professional and patient is essential to good decision making, and that patients need the information, time and support to understand it.3 The guidance was last updated on 13 December 2024 for the regulation of physician associates and anaesthesia associates.3 Tell the patient before the scribe runs, and note the answer.
Marketing texts. The ICO says marketing emails and texts must not go to individuals without specific consent, except under the soft opt-in for the clinic's own previous customers about similar services.4 The soft opt-in needs a clear chance to opt out when details are first collected and in every message sent.4 Send reminders and confirmations in their own stream, apart from any offer.
wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic. wai is compliant with these rules and built for clinics in Bath. Every draft, approval and signature is logged.7
The languages Bath patients write in
84.0% of residents were born in England in 2021, with Wales next at just under 4,500 and Scotland at just under 2,400.1 3.3% identified within the Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh group and 2.7% within the Mixed or Multiple group, the largest rise since 2011.1
Across England and Wales, 1.5% of residents could not speak English well in 2021, and 6.0% of households had members with different main languages.5 wai works in any language, and a patient can speak intake answers aloud in their own language while the clinician reads them in English.6
What a demo shows in Bath
The demo opens on a dermatology and skin clinic in a Georgian townhouse off Milsom Street. At 21:30 a visitor staying near the Royal Crescent writes on WhatsApp about a mole she wants checked before she flies home, and a retired teacher in Widcombe emails to ask whether her husband can come to her follow-up. wai reads the dermatologists' busy times from Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar, offers open times and drafts both replies. The coordinator approves them at 8:15.
The visitor books on the clinic's own website and pays in pounds by card or Apple Pay through the clinic's own Stripe account. Her intake questionnaire asks about her preferences, and carries the clinic's own unticked box for news and offers. In the room the dermatologist explains the scribe, she agrees, and the doctor reviews and signs the drafted note and the letter to her own doctor at home.
For hospital groups and insurers around Bath
Hospital groups and insurers across Bath and North East Somerset can have wai build a system around one pathway, such as dermatology referrals, with records hosted in the United Kingdom and every note signed by a clinician. The organisations page explains the first steps of a build like this.
Where to start
First, add preference questions to the intake questionnaire, so each assessment starts from what the patient wants, as Regulation 9 expects.2 Second, script the line the clinician says before the scribe runs, using the consent form template.3
Third, split the patient list into those who agreed to marketing and those who did not, and keep reminders apart from offers.4 Fourth, count last month's enquiries from visitors and from residents, and bring both counts to a fifteen-minute demo. The costs are listed openly on the pricing page.
Bring last month's enquiries, split into visitors and residents, and see the diary they would have filled.
Frequently asked questions
What does CQC Regulation 9 mean for an AI-drafted note?
Care has to meet the patient's needs and reflect their preferences, assessed with them.2 The clinician checks that the drafted note carries those preferences before signing it.
Can a Bath clinic text patients about a new treatment?
Only with specific consent, or under the soft opt-in for its own previous customers about similar services, with an opt-out offered in every message.4
Who signs a note drafted during a Bath consultation?
The clinician. wai drafts the note and the letter, and each stays a draft until the clinician has reviewed and signed it.7
How should a doctor explain the scribe to a patient?
The GMC's consent guidance asks for the information the patient needs, with time and support to understand it.3 A short spoken line and a note of the answer is enough for most consultations.
Where are a Bath clinic's records hosted?
wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic. For Bath, that is the United Kingdom.
Can visitors book and pay before they arrive in Bath?
Yes. They book on the clinic's own website or from its WhatsApp link, earliest time first, and pay in pounds into the clinic's own Stripe account.
Sources
- 1Office for National Statistics, 2023How life has changed in Bath and North East Somerset, Census 2021Read 15 October 2026Read source
- 2Care Quality Commission, 2026Regulation 9, person-centred careRead 15 October 2026Read source
- 3General Medical Council, 2026Decision making and consent (archived copy of 4 Oct 2026, read 15 Oct 2026)Read 15 October 2026Read source
- 4Information Commissioner's Office, 2026Electronic mail marketing, guide to PECRRead 15 October 2026Read source
- 5Office for National Statistics, 2022Language, England and Wales, Census 2021Read 15 October 2026Read source
- 6wai, 2026wai changelog, intake answered by voice in any languageRead 15 October 2026Read source
- 7wai, 2026Security at waiRead 15 October 2026Read source
Every Bath enquiry answered the evening it arrives, and a diary booked weeks ahead.
Fifteen minutes with a clinician who uses wai daily, on your own enquiries and calendar. We reply within one working day.
Partner with us
See it on your own patients, then build it with us
Thirty minutes on your own patients, doctors and rules, in your market. We reply within one working day, and the clinics that partner with us early shape what we build next.
See what wai does between the visits