Get Ready for October in 6 Minutes with eConsult
With the new GP contract coming into effect from the 1st October, you’ll need to keep online requests open during core hours to allow patients to submit routine, non-urgent requests, medication queries and admin requests.
We’ve been speaking with practices who have shared concerns as to how they can differentiate between urgent and non-urgent requests, and more importantly prevent urgent clinical requests being erroneously submitted online…
…and we’ve been reminding them that this is at the core of how eConsult is designed.
This article will guide you through the ways in which eConsult already supports the new GP contract requirements and what we’ll be introducing to support you with the changes beyond October.
So you can be rest assured that you’ll be fully supported come October – in just 6 minutes.
- Differentiate between Urgent and Non-Urgent (Routine) Requests
Our structured clinical templates, developed by GPs, have been specifically designed for routine, non-urgent demand. By collecting structured data from the patient, we’ve been able to develop advanced safety netting behind each template, meaning any urgent requests are automatically diverted away.
For practices that are more comfortable, you can choose to accept urgent requests by enabling our urgent bypass feature, which many of our total triage practices opt for to help streamline all clinical requests into one inbox. However, by default, eConsult will only accept routine requests suitable for general practice within a one-working day response time, as required by the new GP contract.
To support practices with the contract requirements, we are currently reworking our templates to create clearer routine and administrative pathways (e.g. for immunisation requests and smear tests). With a new, dedicated pathway for certain routine requests ( see below), you’ll have the option to close other clinical requests once you’ve hit your safe working capacity whilst still keeping routine requests open for the duration of your core hours.
The new GP contract also requires that patients can submit medication queries online during core hours from October. To help create a clear pathway for patients to do so, we’ve created a medication query pathway under the “admin” section for existing prescriptions or acute medication follow-ups. We’ll also be adding clear signposting to the NHS app for patients looking to request repeat prescriptions.
2. Triage Non-Urgent Requests More Efficiently
Within each request, our structured templates have a built-in flagging system to indicate any potentially important symptoms to the team. This allows you to automatically sort routine requests in order of acuity helping staff to make quicker triage decisions, but also ensuring patients are prioritised in order of need.
Combined with the structured history we collect from the patient, practice teams are equipped to manage routine requests more safely and efficiently with eConsult, seeing a higher number of requests being managed remotely compared to other Online Consultation platforms.
3. Redirect Patients to Alternate Services and Pharmacy First
eConsult allows you to signpost patients to self-referral and pharmacy services available in your area relevant to their request, helping to direct patients to the most appropriate route without needing to contact the practice.
Practices can implement links to locally commissioned self-referral services into the relevant pathways, directing patients to services such as for mental health, physiotherapy, optometry, podiatry, and sexual health. We’ve found that keeping these up to date can result in up to 7% fewer phone calls (find out more here).
We’ve also recently partnered with Healthera, a digital health platform which seamlessly connects patients directly to pharmacy services. On starting an eConsult for any of the highlighted common conditions appropriate for Pharmacy First, patients can book a video or face to face consultation directly with any pharmacy who is a member of the Healthera network. This is available for the following conditions:
- UTI
- Shingles
- Impetigo
- Infected insect bites
- Sore throat
- Sinusitis
This aims to support practices in managing demand come October by directing patients to appropriate services before they contact their GP.
4. Streamline your workflow
The new GP Contract also requires that other access points (i.e. F2F and telephone) must remain open. With patients accessing via multiple channels during core hours, having separate workflows for each access point can create added work and pressure on the team.
That’s why we’ve created eConsult Lite, a shortened online form that reception can complete on behalf of a patient who phones or walks in, with the patient’s details pulled from your clinical system in just one click.
This allows for requests submitted both over the phone and online to be managed from a single digital queue – so that your team can see every request in one place; prioritise based on clinical need; and manage their workload with clarity and confidence.
Any more ideas? We’d love to hear from you!
We are researching further customisation areas to meet new GP contract requirements and welcome feedback and encourage discussion on the new GP contract.
Please contact your account manager or reach us at commercial@econsult.health.