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Low reported severity Internal Action

Stroke survivor near Doncaster says her GP surgery's AI phone receptionist could not understand her speech; she moved practice and it was withdrawn

A woman recovering from a stroke told BBC News in August 2026 that she tried five times to book a GP appointment at her surgery in Armthorpe, near Doncaster, but could not get past its AI phone receptionist, EMMA. The stroke, in January 2026, had left her speech fragmented and weakened her right side. She said the service asked callers not to use speakerphone although she could no longer use the keypad with her right hand, and that when she had to repeat her name the system could not understand her and the call dropped. She said it was upsetting, and she registered with another practice. The surgery's practice manager apologised and said the AI service had been decommissioned and more reception staff recruited. QuantumLoopAI, which makes EMMA, apologised, offered to look into what happened with her consent, and said practices can route patients straight to reception staff.

AI system
EMMA AI receptionist
QuantumLoopAI
Occurred
2026
Reported
26 August 2026
Event location
United Kingdom
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Treatment DisruptionPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Health · Accessibility · Public services
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
7 claims: 7 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: EMMA, an AI telephone receptionist for GP practices made by QuantumLoopAI, used by the surgery to answer patient calls

Reported harm

A stroke survivor says she could not get past her GP surgery's AI phone receptionist in five attempts to book an appointment, that it could not understand her when she repeated her name and that a call dropped; she found it upsetting and moved to another practice.

Outcome

Resolved
  • After her January 2026 stroke: she tried five times to book an appointment through the AI receptionist and could not get through, by her account.
  • By August 2026: she had registered with another practice.
  • 26 August 2026: BBC News reported her account; the practice manager said the EMMA service had been decommissioned at the surgery and more reception staff recruited, and invited her back. QuantumLoopAI apologised and offered to look into the case with her consent.

What remains unknown

  • The dates of her five calls, beyond being after her January 2026 stroke and before the August 2026 report.
  • Whether she needed urgent care that the failed calls delayed, and how she eventually saw a GP.
  • Why the surgery withdrew the AI service, and whether priority routing was configured there.
  • The call recordings or logs.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Her GP surgery's phone line was answered by EMMA, an AI receptionist made by QuantumLoopAI. She says that over five attempts the system could not get her through to an appointment, that it could not understand her stroke-affected speech when she repeated her name and that the call dropped. She connects those responses to her upset and her move to another practice. The practice and the vendor apologised without disputing her account.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported She told BBC News that after her stroke she tried five times to book a GP appointment at her surgery but could not get past its AI reception service, EMMA.

Causal attribution. Her own account; the call logs were not published.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'she attempted to book a GP appointment five times but could not get past the AI service.'; 'The ASA surgery at Armthorpe near Doncaster was one of many facilities using a nationwide AI system called EMMA'
  • nrtimes.co.uk(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'she tried five times to book a GP appointment after her stroke but was unable to get past the automated service.'
Reported The stroke, in January 2026, left her speech fragmented and weakened her right side; she said the AI service asked callers not to use speakerphone although she could no longer use the keypad with her right hand.

Causal attribution. Her account as reported by the BBC.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'following a stroke in January.'; 'It primarily affected the strength and mobility down the right side of her body and left her speech fragmented.'; 'the AI service asked patients not to use speakerphone.'
Reported She said that when she had to repeat her name the AI receptionist could not understand her and the call dropped, which was very difficult and upsetting.

Causal attribution. Her description of the system's responses to her.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'There was a point in the conversation where I had to repeat my name and she just couldn'; 'But the call just dropped off. It was very difficult and upsetting.'
Reported She registered with another practice in Doncaster after growing frustrated with the AI service.

Causal attribution. The BBC's report of her account.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'After growing frustrated with the AI service at Armthorpe'; 'felt the need to move to another surgery.'
Reported The practice manager apologised, said the EMMA service had been decommissioned at the surgery and was no longer used, and said more reception staff had been recruited.

Causal attribution. The practice's own statement; it does not say why the service was withdrawn.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I am sorry to hear this patient encountered difficulties and felt the need to move to another surgery.'; 'I can confirm the AI EMMA service has been decommissioned and the practice are no longer using this system.'
Reported QuantumLoopAI apologised for her experience, offered to look into what happened with her consent, and said every practice using EMMA can set up priority routing that puts patients straight through to reception staff.

Causal attribution. The vendor's statement; it does not dispute her account.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'We are sorry to hear about this patient'; 'with her consent we would welcome the chance to look into what happened and help put it right.'; 'could set up "priority routing"'
Reported The watchdog Healthwatch said other Yorkshire patients had also struggled to be understood by AI reception services.

Causal attribution. Context as reported by the BBC; no other patient is counted.

  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'other Yorkshire patients struggling to be understood by AI reception services.'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live on 2026-11-01 (HTTP 200; datePublished 2026-08-26; bodies/acc-bbc-stroke.html/.txt). BBC interview with her plus statements from the practice manager and QuantumLoopAI. Applies to s1.

Read live on 2026-11-01 (HTTP 200; datePublished 2026-08-27; bodies/acc-nrtimes-stroke.html/.txt). Rewrite of the BBC report with the same quotations; same independence group. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United Kingdom. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The BBC locates the surgery whose phone line used the AI receptionist at Armthorpe near Doncaster, England, so the event country is GB. Her own residence is not stated and is not inferred. No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-11-01: Published as a core case (communicated_with). A stroke survivor told BBC News that she could not get past her GP surgery's AI phone receptionist in five attempts to book an appointment, that it could not understand her when she repeated her name and that a call dropped, and that she moved practice; the surgery then withdrew the service. The account is hers and is attributed; the practice and vendor statements are included.

People described

A woman in her seventies recovering from a stroke that left her speech fragmented and weakened her right side; she gave a named interview to BBC News.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the patient who called the surgery and spoke to the AI receptionist. Other Yorkshire patients mentioned by Healthwatch are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-receptionist#gp-surgery#nhs#stroke#speech-impairment#accessibility#older-adult#gb

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Stroke survivor near Doncaster says her GP surgery's AI phone receptionist could not understand her speech; she moved practice and it was withdrawn. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-doncaster-stroke-survivor-says-gp-ai-phone-receptionist-could-not-understand-her-speech-she-moved-practice

BibTeX

@misc{2026_doncaster_stroke_survivor_says_gp_ai_phone_receptionist_could_not_understand_her_speech_she_moved_practice,
  title = {Stroke survivor near Doncaster says her GP surgery's AI phone receptionist could not understand her speech; she moved practice and it was withdrawn},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-doncaster-stroke-survivor-says-gp-ai-phone-receptionist-could-not-understand-her-speech-she-moved-practice}
}

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