Ditto app

The State of the System report, commissioned by CCLG and charity partners Young Lives vs Cancer, Teenage Cancer Trust and Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, highlighted difficulties in accessing and understanding information at the right time.

It found that 48% of young people, parents and carers wanted more support to understand their own or their child’s diagnosis. Many felt they did not have time to digest, ask questions or discuss concerns. Families also described the burden of retaining information and repeatedly sharing it with partners, relatives and friends.

Through our shared North Star vision, we want every child and young person with cancer - and their family - to feel informed, empowered and able to make knowledgeable decisions about their care and future. Young Lives vs Cancer identified the Ditto app as an innovative, practical tool with the potential to help us move closer to that ambition. 

Patients and parents or carers can use the app to:

• record a medical consultation, with the healthcare professional’s knowledge
• scan medical letters and documents
• receive an AI-generated summary in plain language
• revisit information when they feel ready
• translate summaries into supported languages
• prepare questions and prompts before an appointment
• securely share summaries with selected family members or others supporting them
• access relevant CCLG information.

Ditto summarises information only. It does not provide medical advice, recommend treatment or make a diagnosis. 

Links to relevant CCLG information are signposted to beneath the summary.

Read more about the Ditto app.

Medical appointments can be overwhelming, particularly when patients and families are distressed or receiving lots of information. Research suggests that people may forget a significant proportion of what they are told during a consultation and may remember some information incorrectly.

The Ditto app can help patients and families to:

• understand and remember important information
• process information in their own time
• prepare more effectively for future appointments
• involve family members in their care and decision-making
• reduce the need to repeatedly explain difficult medical updates to others
• feel more informed and in control.

One family member explained:

“After every appointment it starts again: her mum, my mum, work, friends. You end up reliving the same appointment four or five times before the day is over.”

When a patient or family use Ditto to record a consultation, the app produces a plain-language summary. The summary also signposts to relevant health information from CCLG. The link to the relevant information appears below the summary.

You may be asked by a patient, parent or carer if they can use the Ditto app to record a consultation.

When this happens:

1. Discuss how recording could help them. It may help them to remember complex information, review it later or share an accurate summary with people they trust. You may want to offer to look at a summary with them. Or suggest other professionals that they might want to share a summary with, such as a teacher or community nurse. Using the app will help them to access clear and accurate information beyond the consultation, ensuring they don't miss anything important.
2. Remind them that the recording is for personal use only. Patients and families should understand that recordings should not be shared publicly. Remember; only the summary can be shared.
3. Protect the privacy of others. Recordings should only be made in a private space where other patients, families or confidential conversations cannot be overheard.
4. Follow your local policy. Check and follow your NHS Trust’s guidance on recording consultations.
5. Address any concerns openly. If you are uncomfortable about being recorded, discuss your concerns and explore whether an agreed approach can be found.

The BMA recognises potential benefits for patients and clinicians where recordings are made openly and consensually. These include helping patients remember advice, process information after a distressing appointment and involve family members in their care.

Ditto confirm that:

• recordings and scanned documents are encrypted
• information is only stored on the patient’s or carer’s device
• only the summary - not the original recording or document - can be shared through the app
• summaries shared with other app users are protected by end-to-end encryption
• data is handled in line with UK and EU data-protection requirements.

Ditto was developed in the Netherlands and is already used by more than 100,000 people. Its developers have worked with the AYA Care Network and Dutch clinicians to support the accuracy, safety and relevance of the app.

Ditto’s AI summaries have also been independently assessed. In a blind study conducted in June 2026, 12 medical experts compared 1,010 pairs of summaries produced by nine AI systems. Ditto ranked first, with no unsafe errors identified in 221 expert-reviewed summaries. Read more about how Ditto test the accuracy and safety of its AI summaries.

Patients can record a conversation in which they are taking part for their own personal use. Ditto encourages users to ask the healthcare professional first and explain why a recording would help. Members should refer to BMA guidance and their organisation’s local policy for further advice.

Explore the patient’s or family’s reasons and explain your concerns. The BMA recommends having an open discussion and trying to address the underlying need.

Discuss the issue with the patient or family and ask why they feel the need to record without telling you. You may be able to address their concerns and invite them to record openly instead.

No. Only the plain-language summary can be shared from the Ditto app.

Yes. The app is free to download and use. It can be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store.