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Not sure what the Smart Inbox is? Read our introduction article.
What is the Urgent Warning bypass Feature?
eConsult allows practices to accept urgent warning eConsults into their Smart Inbox queue rather than patients being redirected to call the practice. Patients that need to call 999 or got to A&E will still be stopped and prompted to call 999/attend A&E.
The aim is to reduce the number of calls practices receive from patients being 'kicked out' of eConsult and allow the patients to submit their eConsults and for the practice to view these submissions on the day. Patients would previously have been prompted to get medical advice sooner than the 48 hours response rate.
Without the Urgent Bypass feature, patients are advised to call the practice or 111. When the Urgent Bypass feature is active, patients will be informed that they 'may need urgent advice from the practice'. To avoid any ambiguity for patients, and to ensure clinical safety, we strongly advise that practices:
review all Urgent eConsult reports on the day;
check the Flagged Urgent Folder in the Smart Inbox for at least 1 hour after the feature is switched off (to allow for eConsults in progress to be submitted);
send an acknowledgement message to patients that they have received their eConsult (for example using templated messages), to minimise patient concerns and callbacks.
Once the patient has submitted their eConsults these urgent warning bypass eConsults will appeared in the main queue highlighted in red.
The eConsults will also be located in a new folder in the clinical section called Flagged Urgent, where you can see all the urgent warning eConsults:
You can also sort the main queue by the number of flags and the eConsults with at least one urgent warning flag will always appear at the top of the queue. The new flag for urgent warning is identified as a red +.
Urgent warning bypass will only occur during the practice physical opening hours due to clinical reasons. This is to ensure patients are seeking appropriate medical care when the practice is closed.
When you fill in the following form the Operations Team will update your physical opening hours (this may differ from the hours eConsults is available for your practice). Urgent warning bypass will also stop 1 hour before your physical opening hours close to ensure any delays in patients submissions are done before you close.
How do I switch the Urgent Warning bypass feature on?
To have the urgent warning bypass switched on you must be actively using the Smart Inbox. You will then need to agree to using the feature and confirm your physical opening hours (for clinical safety reason) and the Operations Team will then be able to switch on the bypass.
The first step is to sign up using this link or you can email practice.support@econsult.health with any questions.
Patient journey
Previously when patients submitted answers that raised urgent flags they would have been told to end their consultation and seek medical advice themselves at the time the urgent flag was raised. Now patients will be able to continue their journey and only at the end will they be told they need urgent advice but that they can continue to submit their eConsult.
Patients will still be able to continue submitting their eConsults or they can like previously end the consultation and choose to contact the practice/another service separately.
FAQs
Will I still receive Urgent Warning eConsults when I hit my cap or close earlier?
No, when you are not receiving eConsults either hitting your cap, closing early or set hours earlier than your physical hours you will not receive any eConsults including the urgent warning eConsults.
I have dual delivery will I still receive the urgent warning eConsult to my email/clinical system?
Yes if you have dual delivery into the Smart Inbox the urgent warning eConsults will still be sent to the Smart Inbox and either your nominated email or via ITK to your 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.