How do I access the SCA Virtual Patients (AI patients)?
AI-powered virtual patients are available for most of our pre-made SCA cases. These are designed to help you practise your consultation and clinical reasoning skills in a simulated GP setting.
Virtual patients are intended for solo use. If you’d prefer to practise with others, check out Group Practice Mode for SCA cases.
Interacting with the SCA virtual patients
To get started:
- Open an SCA case
- Choose the Virtual patient option
You’ll then be asked how you’d like to consult:
Mode | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
Text | Type messages back and forth | Free |
Audio | A real-time spoken conversation | 4 AI credits, up to 15 minutes |
Video | Face-to-face with a video avatar | 15 AI credits, up to 10 minutes |
You can also choose the consultation language on the same screen.
What happens during the case
SCA virtual patient cases run in stages:
- Instructions - the candidate instructions, giving you time to review the case scenario
- Consultation - talk to the patient
- Marking - click End consultation, then choose AI marking or Self mark
Finish with Complete station to save your attempt and see your results against the SCA marking domains.
Why can’t I start a video consultation?
Video mode is a subscriber perk. As well as having enough AI credits, you’ll need an SCA cases subscription or a plan that includes it. It’s also only available on cases that have a patient avatar set up.
Still have questions? Feel free to get in touch - we're happy to help.
Updated on: 04/09/2026
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