eConsult

• For non-urgent problems. Describe your symptoms in a few minutes and a doctor will see them the same day.
• The doctor can review your case quickly, and will usually call you to follow up, and/or make an appointment for you. The appointment will be with the most relevant specialist in the Surgery, not necessarily a GP. This frees up the surgery phone line and allows doctors to concentrate on getting the right treatment for you quickly.
• Make sure you provide correct phone numbers and are able to answer the phone in the hours after sending an Econsult request.

Click the image to get started.

• Note that the Econsult system is only available during Surgery opening hours. This is because the EConsult system requires the Surgery to respond within a fixed time limit, which is impossible when it is closed.
• Click on the large banner on the Surgery website “home” page.
• You will see a page with a large banner – note that Econsult only works during Surgery open hours. Scroll down, and you will se a large list of “conditions”, and even a “body map” to help you.
• If your condition is not listed, use the “Request general advice” button. The following screenshots use this path through the system, but the others are similar.
• If you have an NHS login you can use that to identify yourself, or “Continue without logging in” – in this case the system will ask you to identify yourself.
• The system asks a LOT of questions, often one per page. The system does not have access to your medical records, so must ask a large number of basic questions. Please be patient and answer all questions as best you can.
• Depending on the answers you give, at the end of the process the system will either send a report to the Surgery, or suggest you phone the Surgery if the problem is unclear. If necessary it will recommend you go to A&E or phone 999.

There is more help available here:

https://econsult.net/nhs-patients/how-to-use-econsult