The eConsultant: Guiding Clients to Net Success

Product Information

You may be directed to another health professional outside of the practice, as they may be best placed to offer you the advice or support you need. These may include local pharmacy support, a minor injuries unit or other services such as physiotherapy. Practices manage significant numbers of patients with long term conditions (LTCs e.g. asthma, contraceptive pill review, COPD, medication review etc). These patients are required to be reviewed on a periodic basis to ensure their conditions are being managed, and that they are not deteriorating. They then submit the online form to their GP practice, where it can be viewed by their GP or another professional as appropriate. Your eConsult will be reviewed by your GP and if you need to be seen for a face-to-face appointment, you will be advised of this by your GP

Elderly patients who have access to the internet can use the service, otherwise they can call the practice as usual on the dedicated telephone number. Telephone: 0345 337 1160 The service allows photographs to be attached and we encourage you to do so where helpful, for example for rash / acne / wounds etc. Please do not upload photo's of sensitive areas such as genitals. If these photo's are submitted, they will be deleted and you will be required to submit a new request. eConsult allows you to seek advice from your GP or to help yourself to manage your condition or symptoms at all hours of the day, from wherever you are. This may be the same GP at the same practice that you have been to for years, meaning they are familiar with your medical history and can continue to treat you. A practice in Cornwall sent 100 texts to their asthmatic patients during ‘QOF season’. In less than one week they received 96 completed asthma eConsult review questionnaires. This cohort of patients had previously been sent letters by the practice inviting them for their annual review but they had ignored them. Texting the direct link makes it much easier for patients to complete. You will be directed to another health professional or service to help you deal with your consultation – examples of what this might be are the practice pharmacist, physiotherapy, a community pharmacist or a minor injury unitYou will be offered an appointment that day – this will either be with a GP or an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and appointments will continue to be spread throughout the day to try and give you some degree of choice of a time that suits you best. More urgent issues will generally be offered earlier appointments.

You may be asked to submit a photo with your eConsult to help us diagnose you. However, please do not include photos of intimate areas – for example genitalia or breasts.(For children under the age of 2, you can submit photos of nappy rash). See video below for further information on how to upload photos. This is called triage, and triaging patients is very important when you have lots of patients asking for your help, as is the case across all of the NHS. Triage also happens in other healthcare settings, such as in A&E where you are seen based on the urgency of your illness or injury. The same needs to happen at your doctor’s – they need to understand who needs help urgently, and who can wait a little longer. eConsultis the most widely used digital and online triage tool in NHS primary care, built by NHS GPs for NHS patients, designed to enhance patient access, improve practice efficiencies and signpost patients to the right place at the right time for their care. Live in over 3,200 NHS practices, eConsult gives millions of patients access to their own GP online." - eConsult EConsult at Roseneath Medical Practice Please submit your blood pressure readings via eConsult https://bit.ly/2PUbl6n so that we can monitor your condition and advise if you need an appointment. The practice may respond in a variety of ways, based on the advised next steps or the urgency of the information you have provided:

eConsult

If the doctor or nurse decides they really need to see you in person, they will suggest you come in for a face-to-face appointment. In our experience, around 4 in 5 patients can be helped without them going into the practice for an in-person consultation. Limiting face-to-face appointments to those who really need them is very important, especially during COVID-19, as people might not show any signs of being ill. Your doctors or nurse can dedicate more time to helping you You may receive a phone call for you to speak to a health professional at the practice, this is because you may not need a face-to-face appointment to resolve your query. This will save you from having to come into the practice. At this point, you’ve provided your practice with information about your needs through your online consultation. They can now make a decision, based on this and what they already know about you, about what to do next. They also need to tell you what this is!

Go to the Windows Start bar or the ‘ magnifying glass‘ at the bottom left of your screen and search ‘ eConsult Toolbar‘ An online consultation does the same thing, however, it collects more information from you than you would normally be able to provide to a receptionist. The main difference is that you are filling in this information online, instead of talking to someone over the telephone. We know some people find this less scary or embarrassing than talking to someone on the phone or in person.You can find these on any eConsult PDF you have been sent. They will both be in the top right of any report. You will be offered an appointment at a future date – this is most likely if there is a particular GP that you normally see who is not available that day to deal with your consultation.