Arun Paul is building Magixis and writes up the research as he goes: what the UK rules require, what vendors actually charge, and which of the numbers this industry quotes survive being traced back to a source. Every post ends with its source list, fetched and checked on the day it went out.
No rule stops a GP practice putting an AI on its phone line. What the AI is for decides how much follows: booking and routing is administrative, sorting callers by urgency is likely a medical device. Also inside: why DCB0160 is the practice's duty and not the vendor's, what DTAC does and does not tell a buyer, and the 2026/27 contract line that bans telling a patient to ring back tomorrow.
Every rule quoted is linked to sourceChecked 25 September 2026
"Software that is used to book an appointment, request a prescription or have a virtual consultation is also unlikely to be considered a medical device if it only has an administrative function."
A job agreed on the phone is a distance contract, so the customer usually gets 14 days to cancel and the work must be confirmed in writing before it starts. Emergency call-outs lose that right, but only for the urgent repair. Also inside: why starting inside the 14 days needs an express request, how "someone will be there within the hour" becomes a contract term, and the VAT-inclusive call-out price the CMA can now fine you over.
Every rule quoted is linked to sourceChecked 25 September 2026
Giving legal advice is not one of the six reserved activities, so the permission question passes easily. The one that decides it is confidentiality, which attaches from the caller's first sentence because the SRA Glossary counts prospective clients as clients. Also inside: the SRA's 17 August 2026 warning notice on AI misuse, where MLR 2017 reg 4(1) due diligence starts, and the Legal Ombudsman's one-year clock.
Every rule quoted is linked to sourceChecked 4 September 2026
"Using AI tools in this way will likely breach client confidentiality and as a result, legal professional privilege may be permanently waived and unable to be recovered."
One call is never triaged at all: a suspected gas escape or a sounding CO alarm goes to 0800 111 999, and whoever answers reads the safety steps and stops. Everything after it is already drafted — Awaab's Law has fixed a 24-hour investigate-and-make-safe duty in social housing in England since 27 October 2025, and housing associations publish their three-tier matrices with the hours attached. Also inside: what waking the engineer costs under Tomlinson-Blake.
Every timescale quoted is linked to sourceChecked 4 September 2026
Route on what a caller stated and you are automating admin. Rank by inferred severity and MHRA guidance treats the software as a medical device, because in England triage has a statutory definition. Also inside: the conflict-check order a law firm cannot reverse, and why the five-minute response rule is 2007 vendor data from six companies.
Every rule quoted is linked to sourceChecked 15 August 2026
The "$126,000 a year" figure everyone quotes is untraceable — one attribution points at a 404. The "62%" figure is from January 2016. We traced both, then priced 19 AI and human answering vendors off their own live pages, and show the twenty-minute method for working out your real number.
Every price read off the vendor's live pageRetrieved 13 August 2026
Whether UK practices need one at all, then the rules if you run one: ICAEW guidance, the PCRT's January 2026 AI update, the ICO's position on call recording and DPIAs, and the Article 22A–D rewrite in force since 5 February 2026. Quoted from the instruments rather than paraphrased.
Every rule quoted is linked to sourceChecked 13 August 2026
"In the vast majority of cases, the use of AI will involve a type of processing likely to result in a high risk to individuals' rights and freedoms, and will therefore trigger the legal requirement for you to undertake a DPIA."