Tend has revealed "Tend Scribe," their innovative, AI-driven tool has now helped draft over 20,000 clinical notes and easy to understand patient instructions. Tend Scribe listens to clinician-patient consultations and produces detailed draft clinical notes for review and finalisation by clinicians, delivering these to patients within minutes of their consultation.
Tend Scribe is built entirely in-house by Tend’s product team and clinicians to seamlessly integrate with their patient management system, Indici, and internal platform Tender. Underpinning the AI tool is the large language model Claude Sonnet from Anthropic and Amazon Web Services.
According to Tend's Chief Operating Officer, Josh Robb, this in-house approach ensures the highest quality of data while maintaining total control over the results, ensuring compliance with the NZ Privacy Act and Medical Council guidelines.
“There are off-the-shelf tools for this, but we designed and built Tend Scribe ourselves to enable strong clinical governance, control the quality of the data and ensure it fits seamlessly into our tech platform. It was a critical design goal that patient data never leaves our systems,” says Robb.
“By building it in-house, we have more control over the data it generates, ensuring high-quality, comprehensive notes that improve both the clinician and patient experience. Integration into our technology also enables us to collect data to continuously monitor quality, safety and equity of the tool, in a way that would not be possible with a third-party product,” adds Robb.
For clinicians: Saving time, enhancing patient connection
For clinicians, Tend Scribe allows them to fully focus on their patients without the distraction of typing during consultations. Doctors no longer need to spend time during or after appointments writing clinical notes about what was discussed, as the AI generates a comprehensive and structured summary.
The tool was initially launched for Tend’s telehealth service, Online Now, and now has expanded to the in-clinic setting with it being used in 65 percent of primary care consults. Around 72 percent of Tend’s GP’s have opted to use it with an estimated 30 percent increase in productivity for online consultations.
Tend GP Dr. Sally McLaren, who has been using Tend Scribe for several months in both her clinic and online consultations, was initially sceptical but is now a strong advocate of the tool. “At first, I was a bit dubious, but now I absolutely love it. I can really sit and listen to my patients, and it saves me so much time and stress. I’m completely sold on it and would recommend it to all my colleagues.”
Dr. Mary Hung echoes this sentiment. “Tend Scribe has made a positive difference in the time saved from not having to type up notes. It also allows me to focus more on my patients during the consultation. Every time I review the notes afterward, I’m amazed at how well the AI captures the relevant details and organises them. It’s especially helpful for managing complex cases. It gets a big tick from me.”
Outside the productivity gains, the comprehensive nature of the notes ensures continuity of care, particularly in Tend’s team-based care model, where accurate and thorough records support ongoing patient care.
Tend’s Chief Medical Officer Graham Denyer emphasises the importance of this advancement. “The long-term data quality implications are immense. In general practice time constraints often impact note quality. Tend Scribe ensures consistent, detailed, and well-structured clinical notes, enabling improved multidisciplinary care and patient safety.”
For patients: Clear, comprehensive summaries
Patients benefit from receiving a clear, detailed summary of their consultation, including any action plans and safety netting, shortly after their appointment.
A recent patient, Sarah, was impressed by the level of detail and care reflected in her notes. "Right after my appointment, simple and clear notes popped up in my app—no confusing shorthand or acronyms, just easy-to-read details of our discussion and a reassuring action plan that made me feel truly heard. I love having access to such detailed notes - it gives me a sense of control over my care, and is super convenient if the condition crops up again."
Proven and trusted
One of the key benefits of developing our own tool is the ability to maintain close oversight of clinical quality and safety," says Denyer. "For instance, across the 20,000 consultations completed using Tend Scribe, we can confidently report that over 99 percent achieve high scores on a validated quality assessment tool even before any edits are made by our clinicians.”
Tend Scribe has been in action since April 2024 in Tend’s Online Now service and is now available in all Tend clinics for patients who use the Tend app. Patient consent is always obtained before using the technology and uptake has been overwhelmingly positive with 99.6 percent of patients agreeing to use Scribe.
Importantly, Tend Scribe is not used for diagnostics, but simply to enhance the efficiency and quality of clinical documentation.
With Tend Scribe, Tend patients can expect an elevated level of care, and Tend’s clinicians can work more efficiently, all while maintaining the personal connection that is essential in healthcare.