GP practices
AI for Irish GP practices: keep the PPSN out of the chat
Draft referrals, medical reports and medical card letters with ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot. Patient names, dates of birth, PPSNs and MRNs are covered before the paste.
No sign-up, no card · Installs in a minute
One app for all the letters the surgery runs past AI
Referrals, medical reports, bloods spreadsheets and patient ID: Nonimo covers patient details at reception and in the consulting room.
In the middle, a made-up discharge summary whose patient details Nonimo has hidden; around it, the four places a surgery uses it: a key in any letter, a Chrome and Safari add-on that works across ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, medical reports and results spreadsheets, and passports and ID cards.
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Highlight the referral, press the key, and the patient turns into [PERSON_1] before the AI sees it.
See it on a letter → -
Medico-legal reports in Word, bloods in Excel, discharge PDFs: patient details covered first.
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The Chrome and Safari extension, with the app on the surgery's Mac or Windows PC, covers each paste.
The extension → -
When a patient's ID has to be copied, hide the fields nobody needs and watermark the copy.
Redact an ID → -
Got applications that talk to an AI over its API? Nonimo Gateway sits on a server you control and strips the personal data from every request first.
See how the Gateway works →
[nonimo]
Email · Outlook
As you typed it
Discharge summary for Mrs Nuala Drumcarravane attached, MRN 00412377.
What reaches the AI
Discharge summary for Mrs [PERSON_1] attached, MRN [MRN_1].
bloods.xlsx · row 22
As you typed it
Patient: Ultan Moygrennagh · Email: u.moygrennagh@example.com · PPSN: 0000000X
What reaches the AI
Patient: [PERSON_1] · Email: [EMAIL_1] · PPSN: [REFERENCE_1]
Nonimo Gateway
As you typed it
Write back to Pádraig Lissadorn at p.lissadorn@example.com and confirm his new payment plan.
What reaches the AI
Write back to [PERSON_1] at [EMAIL_1] and confirm his new payment plan.
Passport · data page
The AI never sees your dataReversibleNo cloud involved
Ask about the condition, not the patient
The AI drafts with labels. The letter comes back with the patient's details filled in, ready to sign and send.
Scene one uses the browser extension in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. A request for a referral, a medical report or a results letter is sent with a made-up patient's name, email or PPS number and a practice reference; Nonimo replaces them with labels, the AI drafts around the labels, and one click copies the letter back with the patient's details, which appear in a panel below as the letter to sign. Scene two uses the key in Outlook or Word: a patient's email is covered, pasted into an AI assistant, and pressing the key again copies the reply with the patient's details restored.
Turn these notes into a referral to the dermatology OPD: mole on the back, changed over three months. Patient: Méabh Corranagloon[PERSON_1] PPSN: 0000000X[REFERENCE_1] Practice ref: GP-2026-0391[REFERENCE_2]
Dear Doctor, I would be grateful if you could see Méabh Corranagloon[PERSON_1] (PPSN 0000000X[REFERENCE_1], our ref. GP-2026-0391[REFERENCE_2]), who has a mole on the back that has changed over the past three months.
Dear Doctor, I would be grateful if you could see Méabh Corranagloon[PERSON_1] (PPSN 0000000X[REFERENCE_1], our ref. GP-2026-0391[REFERENCE_2]), who has a mole on the back that has changed over the past three months.
The patient's details are back in the letter, ready to sign.Draft the opening of a medical report for the patient's solicitor after a rear-end collision. Patient: Cathal Tobberquinlan[PERSON_1] Email: c.tobberquinlan@example.org[EMAIL_1] Our ref: MR-2026-0127[REFERENCE_1]
Medical report MR-2026-0127[REFERENCE_1] Cathal Tobberquinlan[PERSON_1] attended the surgery two days after a rear-end collision, complaining of neck pain. A copy of this report has also been emailed to the patient at c.tobberquinlan@example.org[EMAIL_1].
Medical report MR-2026-0127[REFERENCE_1] Cathal Tobberquinlan[PERSON_1] attended the surgery two days after a rear-end collision, complaining of neck pain. A copy of this report has also been emailed to the patient at c.tobberquinlan@example.org[EMAIL_1].
The patient's details are back in the letter, ready to sign.Write a short letter telling the patient her cholesterol is a little high and asking her to book a review. Patient: Bláthnaid Gortnaskeagh[PERSON_1] Email: b.gortnaskeagh@example.com[EMAIL_1] Ref.: LAB-2026-0560[REFERENCE_1]
To: b.gortnaskeagh@example.com[EMAIL_1] Dear Bláthnaid Gortnaskeagh[PERSON_1], Your recent bloods (ref. LAB-2026-0560[REFERENCE_1]) show your cholesterol is a little high. Nothing urgent, but please ring reception to book a review with the doctor.
To: b.gortnaskeagh@example.com[EMAIL_1] Dear Bláthnaid Gortnaskeagh[PERSON_1], Your recent bloods (ref. LAB-2026-0560[REFERENCE_1]) show your cholesterol is a little high. Nothing urgent, but please ring reception to book a review with the doctor.
The patient's details are back in the letter, ready to sign.Turn these notes into a referral to the dermatology OPD: mole on the back, changed over three months. Patient: Méabh Corranagloon[PERSON_1] PPSN: 0000000X[REFERENCE_1] Practice ref: GP-2026-0391[REFERENCE_2]
Draft the opening of a medical report for the patient's solicitor after a rear-end collision. Patient: Cathal Tobberquinlan[PERSON_1] Email: c.tobberquinlan@example.org[EMAIL_1] Our ref: MR-2026-0127[REFERENCE_1]
Write a short letter telling the patient her cholesterol is a little high and asking her to book a review. Patient: Bláthnaid Gortnaskeagh[PERSON_1] Email: b.gortnaskeagh@example.com[EMAIL_1] Ref.: LAB-2026-0560[REFERENCE_1]
Hello, Are my blood results back yet? My chart number is GP-2026-0729[MRN_1], and you can reply to r.knockbrennagh@example.net[EMAIL_1]. Many thanks, Róisín Knockbrennagh[PERSON_1]
Hello, Are my blood results back yet? My chart number is GP-2026-0729[MRN_1], and you can reply to r.knockbrennagh@example.net[EMAIL_1]. Many thanks, Róisín Knockbrennagh[PERSON_1]
Dear Róisín Knockbrennagh[PERSON_1], Your results are back on your chart GP-2026-0729[MRN_1] and the doctor has reviewed them. There's nothing to worry about; we'll send a copy to r.knockbrennagh@example.net[EMAIL_1] today.
Dear Róisín Knockbrennagh[PERSON_1], Your results are back on your chart GP-2026-0729[MRN_1] and the doctor has reviewed them. There's nothing to worry about; we'll send a copy to r.knockbrennagh@example.net[EMAIL_1] today.
The patient's details are back in the letter, ready to sign.Referral notes, before and after the key
The patient, the date of birth, the PPSN, the next of kin and the email become markers. The clinical history the consultant needs stays in full.
Before: what gets pasted
Please turn these notes into a referral letter to the dermatology OPD. Patient: A.B. DOB: 30/02/1957 PPSN: 1234567X Next of kin: C.D. (daughter) Email: patient@example.com 69-year-old retired postman. Pigmented lesion on the left shoulder, changed over four months, now 9 mm with an irregular edge. No previous skin cancer. On warfarin.
After: what the AI receives
Please turn these notes into a referral letter to the dermatology OPD. Patient: [PERSON_1] DOB: [BIRTH_DATE_1] PPSN: [REFERENCE_1] Next of kin: [PERSON_2] Email: [EMAIL_1] 69-year-old retired postman. Pigmented lesion on the left shoulder, changed over four months, now 9 mm with an irregular edge. No previous skin cancer. On warfarin.
What the Medical Council asks of a GP
Paragraph 25.4 asks you to protect patient information in your control. Nonimo covers it before the paste, whichever chatbot the practice uses.
For the whole practice
Start with the GP or practice manager already writing letters with AI, then add reception and nursing when it suits.
First PC in a minute
Set the app up on the reception Mac or Windows PC, then test it with a referral you invent.
Every surgery PC at once
Your IT support installs the extension on all the practice computers by policy, so every paste is covered.
Clear at a glance
The practice manager can check each change on screen in one sitting, before anyone else starts.
The detail for GP practices
The letters that get pasted, how the referral reaches ChatGPT, paragraph 25.4 at the keyboard, and the price.
AI tools for GP practices in Ireland: the letters that get pasted
In most surgeries, AI in general practice comes down to one letter at a time, and it’s rarely the practice software that ends up in a chatbot.
It’s the referral a GP wants tightened before it goes to outpatients, the discharge summary a patient has asked to have explained in plain English, the covering note on a medical card application, or the medical report for a solicitor that’s been in the tray since Monday.
Each of those letters opens with the same handful of details. The patient’s name, date of birth, address and Eircode, a mobile, often the PPS number, the Medical Card number on anything to do with the card, and on anything from a hospital the MRN. Since March 2022, section 11 of the Health Identifiers Act has told providers to “indicate that identifier in any relevant communication”, so the Individual Health Identifier belongs on the letter as well.
All of that is personal data, and health data carries the extra weight of Article 9: even a number given to a patient for their care counts, as our guide to GDPR patient data explains. The clinical story is a different matter. The history, the examination and what you want the consultant to do are what the model needs if the letter is to be any use.
A GP’s referral notes in ChatGPT: the patient as markers
Highlight the GP’s notes and press the key: the patient’s details become markers on the practice computer, Mac or Windows. When ChatGPT replies, Nonimo puts the patient’s details back on your screen.
It works the same with Claude or Copilot. More on our security page.
In the invented notes alongside, the patient, the date of birth, the PPS number, the daughter named as next of kin and the email are all covered. The referral can still be written, since the age, the job, the lesion and the warfarin are left as typed. That’s the part the consultant needs, and it’s the part the chat needs to draft a proper letter.
Every covered detail is marked on screen, and one click undoes it. The letter still stays personal data for the practice, because the practice can reverse it; our guide to special category data explains why.
The Medical Council’s paragraph 25.4, at the keyboard
The Medical Council’s ethics guide, in its ninth edition since 1 January 2024, never uses the word AI, yet its rules on GP confidentiality follow patient information wherever it ends up.
Paragraph 25.4, quoted here, puts the duty on the doctor: patient information in your control has to be protected against improper disclosure. Once a letter is pasted into a chatbot, the practice no longer decides where that copy goes or who reads it.
Paragraph 31.4 adds that a doctor sharing information by electronic means should take all reasonable measures to protect confidentiality. In a surgery, a reasonable measure is one that works at the moment of the paste, for the GP, the nurse and reception alike.
Don’t wait for the HSE to settle it. Its AI work, through the AI and Automation Centre of Excellence, sorts the HSE’s own projects into risk classes for the EU AI Act; its page says nothing about a letter pasted into a chatbot in a private surgery. That decision sits with the practice.
The Irish College of GPs was more direct in February 2025, in its paper for general practice: “patient identifiable information must never be entered as a prompt”. Nonimo handles the mechanical side of that on a busy afternoon, with the patient’s identifiers out before the letter goes. How the main assistants compare under Irish data protection law is set out in which AI is GDPR compliant.
The price, and which computer in the surgery goes first
Nonimo can start on a single computer in the surgery, Mac or Windows, in front of whichever AI tool the practice already uses.
The download sits at the head of this page. Start where the letters get written: the GP’s consulting room and the practice manager’s desk.
If the surgery asks new patients for photo ID by email, they can watermark a Passport Card copy with the practice’s name and the month. Patients with an Irish Residence Permit can watermark their IRP card the same way.
Plenty of AI tools for GP practices will draft the letter for you; Nonimo doesn’t compete with them. The app goes on each computer separately, and for the whole building your IT support can roll out a browser extension by policy that covers text without the key; organisations has the detail.
A good first test is an old referral from last year’s files: highlight it, press the key and look at what the chat would have received. Show that before and after at the next practice meeting, and reception can follow the same week.
Questions practice managers and GPs ask us
Does Irish law stop a GP practice using AI tools on patient letters?
No, but the GDPR follows every detail you paste, and health data sits under Article 9 with extra conditions. Nothing in Irish law bans a practice from using ChatGPT or Copilot, and the Medical Council's ethics guide never uses the word AI; it asks you to protect patient information in your control. Nonimo covers the patient's name, date of birth, PPS number and contact details on the practice computer first.
Does Nonimo pick up the IHI and the hospital MRN?
Yes, both. The Individual Health Identifier, the 18-digit number that starts 5393, is covered, and so is the hospital MRN on a discharge letter. Every covered detail is marked on screen, and one click puts it back.
Is the Medical Card number on an application covered?
Usually. On a medical card form or a letter about one, the card number is covered along with the patient's name and date of birth. Every covered detail is marked on screen, so before pasting, check that the card number and any other number on the form have been picked up, and cover by hand anything that hasn't.
Where does the Irish College of GPs stand on ChatGPT?
It hasn't banned it. The College's paper of February 2025 tells doctors that “patient identifiable information must never be entered as a prompt”, since whatever the tool stores could end up breaching confidentiality. That's guidance from the College rather than law, but it's the sentence a complaint would quote back at a GP. Nonimo takes the patient's identifiers out before the prompt goes to the chat.
Is there an HSE policy on staff using ChatGPT?
Not one that speaks to a GP surgery. The HSE's AI and Automation Centre of Excellence classifies the HSE's own AI projects by risk under the EU AI Act, and its page doesn't mention chat assistants or general practice. A GP practice is its own business, so what goes into ChatGPT is the practice's call, with the Medical Council guide and the College paper behind it.
What does Nonimo send to you from the practice?
Nothing from the letters: your text is redacted on your computer and never reaches us. No account with us is needed.