Abstract

Background: Increasing administrative demands have substantially altered the nature of clinical work in the United Kingdom, with growing implications for clinician wellbeing, documentation quality, and patient experience. While digital systems have expanded data capture requirements, they have not consistently reduced documentation burden. Ambient artificial intelligence (AI)–based documentation tools have emerged as a potential approach to address these challenges, yet clinician and patient perspectives on their use remain underexplored.

Methods: This report presents findings from a cross-sectional survey of more than 1,200 participants in the UK, including patient-facing clinicians across NHS and private care settings and adult patients. The study examined the impact of administrative workload on clinical focus, care quality, stress, and record accuracy, as well as levels of awareness, acceptance, and expectations regarding AI-powered clinical documentation tools.

Results: A substantial majority of clinicians reported that documentation negatively affects care delivery: 75% described documentation as excessively time-consuming, 64% reported reduced quality of patient interaction, and 49% indicated impaired focus during consultations. Over half (54%) associated documentation demands with increased stress, and 32% linked them to burnout. Concerns about documentation accuracy were widespread, with 52% worrying that notes completed under time pressure were incomplete or flawed. Patients reported parallel effects, with 56% experiencing reduced clinician engagement due to administrative tasks and approximately one quarter identifying errors in their medical records. Despite limited current use of AI documentation tools (8%), acceptance was high: 85% of clinicians perceived potential benefit, and 88% expected AI-powered documentation to become standard practice within five years. Among patients, 77% supported AI use if it reduced administrative burden, contingent on assurances of data security and accuracy.

Conclusions: Administrative documentation represents a significant barrier to focused, high-quality care in UK healthcare settings, affecting clinicians and patients alike. The findings indicate strong alignment between clinician and patient expectations regarding the role of AI in reducing administrative burden and restoring attention to direct care. Ambient AI documentation tools, when securely implemented and integrated into existing workflows, may offer a practical pathway to improving clinical efficiency, documentation quality, and the clinician–patient relationship.