For anyone with a strong regional accent, trying to get your point across can sometimes make you feel like you’re speaking a different language to everyone else.
But locals in Yorkshire are facing a particularly tough time making GP appointments because AI receptionists cannot understand their ‘broad accents’.
Some surgeries have been employing the use of artificial intelligence to handle calls and triage patients to cut down waiting times over the phone.
A chatbot named EMMA, standing for Enhanced Medical Management Assistant, was introduced earlier this year to ease pressure on surgeries across the UK – but a health watchdog has found it has struggled to converse with patients from Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
According to system designers QuantumLoopAI, EMMA has been developed to understand a range of dialects and accents.
But healthcare champion Healthwatch Rotherham, which visited a range of community groups, has flagged concerns that the system ‘does not respond well to variations in speech such as regional accents or those with speech impediments’.
In a statement appearing on the organisation’s website, Healthwatch added such difficulties ‘come at a cost’ to patients who are ‘left feeling unable to contact their GP without experiencing stress and frustration’.
Some patients have even said they would rather be put on hold and speak to a human than deal with the chatbot – a move encouraged by the Government as part of its digital push.
Patients have also reported a range of other issues, including the chatbot’s lack of empathy, long phone calls, being cut off and having to repeat themselves.
In some cases, they have decided to bypass their GP altogether, opting instead to visit A&E, or treat themselves. Patients have also switched GPs after EMMA was introduced.
One individual said of the system: ‘I could never get it to understand me, I ended up just hanging up and not bothering to try and book an appointment’.’
Patients in Yorkshire are struggling to make appointments at their GP because an AI receptionist cannot understand their ‘broad accents’ (file photo)
Healthwatch manager Kym Gleeson told the BBC: ‘One of the issues is this system can’t always understand what people’s inquiry is about due to their broad Yorkshire accent.
‘There are different twangs [across the county] so there’s a lot of variation.
‘It seems the system isn’t always able to understand, so that causes frustration.’
She acknowledged however, some patients have seen an improvement in how quickly they are dealt with.
A spokesman for QuantumLoopAI said: ‘EMMA does not make clinical decisions.
‘She is designed and trained to understand a wide range of accents and dialects and supports 17 languages in addition to English.
‘Where she is unable to understand or deal with a patient’s request the call is transferred to the reception team.
‘No caller is required to continue speaking with EMMA, and anyone can ask to speak to a member of staff at any time.
‘EMMA is designed to improve access by answering calls instantly and removing telephone queues.’
QuantumLoopAI added that it had received ‘overwhelmingly positive’ feedback on the system, with more than 90 per cent of patients reporting a positive improvement in service.
