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Email response to patient from the toolbar
Email response to patient from the toolbar

Use our post-consult messaging functionality to respond to patients

Laura Perring avatar
Written by Laura Perring
Updated over a week ago

This article covers:


What is the post-consult email functionality?

Post-consult messaging (PCM) is a free way to remotely respond to a patient via email following the review of an eConsult.

You can make this response rich and interactive by including links to content that is provided via Healthinote, a database of clear patient information from trusted sources including the NHS, major charities and HCI Digital videos.

Features of email response:

  • Write your own response or amend from an existing template (up to 5,000 characters)

  • Attach and send PDF and Rich Text files (e.g. for sending MED3 sick notes, letters and NHS self-help leaflets)

  • Insert rich self-help information and links to videos through our partnership with Healthinote.

  • Save your response to the patient record (currently for EMIS only).

The post-consult message is received by the patient as an email from the eConsult system. This means that the patient does not have visibility of your email address and cannot reply. PCM uses Government-standard encryption to ensure the privacy of data within the messaging screen and the transmission of data from the messaging screen.


Accessing and sending a post-consult email message

There are several ways to access the post-consult messaging function.

From the blue box in the eConsult report

Through the eConsult toolbar

Select the 'Messaging' icon and select the 'Reply to an eConsult (post-consult email)' option.

You will be asked to provide the consultation PIN that is provided on the eConsult report - in this example, the consultation PIN is 5S5YLM.


Sending self-help information after an eConsult

Healthinote offers a quick and easy way to access clear, reliable health information, from trusted sources including the NHS. When responding to a patient via eConsult, the clinician now has instant access to a wealth of patient information to enhance the clinician’s response and empower the patient to better understand and manage their health.

This feature is available from the eConsult toolbar and from the email post-consult messaging function. Find out more about Healthinote here.


FAQs

What happens if the patient provided an incorrect email address?

If the patient has provided an email address that we cannot verify, this message will appear once you have clicked on 'Send message'.

You'll need to find an alternative communication channel to contact the patient and ensure that you have the correct email for them in the clinical system.


If you have any questions or you feel that this article could be improved, please feel free to give us some feedback by emailing us, pressing the emojis below or using the chat button on the bottom right-hand side of this page to speak to one of the eConsult team.

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