The official UK Government Christmas and New Year bank holidays include:
Christmas Day (25 December)
Boxing Day (26 December)
New Year’s Day (1 January)
This article outlines how response times are affected during this period and how to schedule a bank holiday closure so patients aren't able to submit eConsults.
If a UK Bank Holiday lands on a weekend, the eConsult platform will follow the official set bank holidays and where applicable follow substitute days (e.g. the following Monday).
Please note that local council holidays such as those in specific Scotland regions will need to be manually scheduled via the settings portal.
Extended response time
The eConsult system recognises UK Government Christmas and New Year bank holidays and will automatically extend the response time for clinical eConsult submissions during this period.
For practices set to respond by the next working day, submissions made over the bank holiday period will have their response deadlines adjusted to the next available working day.
Please check your Settings Portal to confirm your configured response timeframe.
Manually scheduling to close over the christmas bank holidays
If your practice plans to remain open during bank holidays, please notify us at practice.support@econsult.health.
If you wish to close eConsult during this period, a practice admin can schedule a closure via the Settings Portal:
Log into the Settings Portal
Navigate to Demand Management on the left-hand side
Select:
A start date and time (when you want eConsult to close)
An end date and time (when normal service resumes)
Please note:
Closures can be scheduled for a maximum of 7 days at a time
For longer closures (e.g. the full festive period), you may need to create multiple entries
Once added, closures will appear in the table within the portal:
How do I login to the settings portal?
The settings portal can be accessed via https://settings.econsult.health
Please note only admin users can schedule closures. If you’d like to update your admin users please email practice.support@econsult.health.
You can log into the settings portal using your usual NHS Mail or Smart Inbox login.
To check your practice admin, head to ‘user management’ on the left hand side of the settings portal where you will be able to view which users are admin.
Non Smart Inbox Users
If you are not a Smart Inbox user, your emergency contacts will have admin rights in the settings portal.
If you are logging in for the first time and do not have an NHSmail account (e.g. you have an @nhs.scot or @wales.nhs.uk domain) please follow the below steps to create your login:
Head to the settings portal
Select ‘login with another email’
Select ‘forgot password’
Enter your email address
You will then receive an email from auth@econsult.health, please click 'confirm' in the email.
You will then need to create a new password
You can now login to the settings portal
During a closure:
Patients will be unable to start consultations on the practice's eConsult page
Patients can still access self-help and pharmacy options
eConsult Lites can still be submitted by a practice user.
If you have any questions, please contact us on the live chat through our website or Smart Inbox, or email us at practice.support@econsult.health.