eConsult is the first online consultation service to be integrated with the NHS App
eConsult is the first online consultation provider available in the NHS App. Your patients have the first access to this service and can now submit an eConsultation to your practice from the NHS App. NHS England will be marketing the NHS App to patients and providing you with tools/guidance. However, this does not include information about how to eConsult from within the App, or explain to patients the benefits of going through the App.
What does this mean to NHS patients?
Patients will now be able to access eConsult from either their own practice website, or via the NHS App. The benefit of the NHS App will be that patients will use the NHS login which will meant they do not have to provide their personal patient demographics each time they use eConsult. Patients can login with a password, or using the Face id or fingerprint.
eConsult and our integration with the NHS App helps improve a patient’s remote access to their own NHS healthcare. This improved access is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic and with social distancing. eConsult and the NHS App gives patients the ability to contact their own NHS healthcare safely from home.
Why the NHS App?
The NHS App is a national initiative to give patients better access to their own healthcare and NHS services. For users who are used to using a smartphone and apps, the NHS App will be a more natural and intuitive way to submit an eConsultation and connect with their practice. With other services also built-in, the NHS App should become the go-to place for patients when starting a healthcare journey. As with the current eConsult offering via practice websites, the NHS App can be used from anywhere, any time of day or night.
We have worked closely with the NHS App team to build our own clinically developed questions into the App, so the journey for the patient is seamless and you still receive the eConsult information in the usual format.