eConsult Health Limited Avis 

A shockingly bad piece of software, which over promises and under delivers. The link between the (very good) NHS app to my GP is not live, yet my GP service says I must book via the eConsult service. When I used the eConsult diagnosis tool, it told me that my symptoms indicated that I needed to have an urgent consultation, but that it could not facilitate a booking and to call the surgery! The eConsult then timed out while I was on hold awaiting my GP to answer my call, losing all the date I'd entered! To other surgeries: DO NOT USE THIS SYSTEM ... IT DOES NOT WORK ... (age 62, fully tech-savvy, professional, trained first-aider - so, it's not me, its the system!)

An absolute joke of a system.

This is rubbish and someone is probably making a lot of money from our hard earned taxes for nothing useful. NHS can remove this useless service and spend this money on more doctors and clinicians !

Clearly designed by people who have never had to book a GP appointment.
No facility for booking appointments to request blood tests. Tries to fit everything into categories, even though the list of categories does not cover all medical issues.
Can generate circular enquiries (i.e. go through the menus and end up back where you started).
Is this some badly educated politician's vanity project? Or maybe designed by some dodgy company that is owned by a school mate of some high-up in the Department of Health and Social Care?

For someone who struggles to make appointments due to a mental health condition. This system should be helpful but is completely the opposite. Having to choose from options that don't actually have anything to do with your condition is terrible, you have to repeat your symptoms multiple times which is incredibly frustrating and time consuming. You are then left wondering whether you will receive an appointment in the next few days. The barrier this creates between you and your practise is shocking. Has left me feeling incredibly despondent and very concerned for my health.

2025 and this is the best they can come up with.. still can't work out what was wrong with picking up the phone and booking an appointment...

I am not great with my phone, but econsult is brilliant. Yes, it takes 5 minutes to complete (and auto fill function for static information would be great). You have lots of space to describe your personal issues along with buttons for yes no answers. I have a number of chronic conditions and econsult makes it much easier to manage and takes pressure off the practice so when I or others need an urgent appointment we can get one. I guess it needs to work well with the practice. It's easy to do, and I would recommend giving it a go.

Will write a full review in time but ultimately this additional red tape stuck on red tape is dangerous and has taken away my one lifeline being a housebound 24/7 carer for a vulnerable person. Shocking.

Useless service. Has made medication requests painfully annoying to do. Most of the time it's not even available. Genuine useless service that's causing people to miss out on medical care.

Edit: lmao I just realised I wrote a similar review years ago here. Proof that the service is better off being shut off.

E Consult needs a transformation in its alliance with a GP practice. I have to use it to contact my doctor but each time I am asked the same questions (do you drink alcohol, smoke, gamble) which my doctor already knows about. Therefore I am loathe to contact my doctor and have to face a repetitive questionnaire. Therefore programme needs to be able to separate people who have used it before at a doctor’s practice and newbies.

Pretty poor results, I have now been onto E consult a number of times, I have changed what I am reporting about my complaint. Each time it has informed me to "Seek Medical Advice" what the hell am I doing when I use E-Consult....if it is not providing Medical Advice what does it provide other that another way for the NHS to pass the buck!!!!

Didn’t get pass the search box. No matter how I’d spell it it would not find it. I am a tech savvy 50yo. I can’t imagine what would a 70+ do.

No other way to search, no contact details. Nothing.

Very much a ‘computer says no’ situation.

Clunky, difficult to use, poorly documented and would definitely dissuade many genuinely in need of seeing their GP from doing so.

Complete joke. You don't have a choice on some questions to select 'other' or 'not applicable'. Also asks for medication list when they already have this information. A complete waste of time. Badly designed & put together.

Anyone finding it goes round in circles and takes you back to beginning again, change your browser if you use Firefox. Everytime I request a prescription that's not on my repeat list, I have to go through the whole 100 questions again. The one that says when was the last time you had a blood test, didn't change in seven days. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to do something that should be simple. "Can I have this med again," Doc checks my history and says yes or no. Do your meds work? I answered that seven days ago. There should be an option to ask a simple question, without going through all that rubbish

I have had to submit many econsults for the same health issue. Everything I want advice ot speak to someone I'm told it's a new econsult. So frustrating no wonder I'm suffering on anxiety on top of the health issue. The system is designed by Doctors to reduce their workload rather than providing a service to their patients.

If I could give it 0 stars I would.

Absolutely rubbish!!
Went all the way through and was told:
“We can't safely assess your symptoms through this online request. You need to talk to someone today instead.”

Then I wasn’t able to book an appointment. So who would you like me to talk to?!?!

The only option was to end the ‘consultation’ and I was then presented with this:

“You've chosen to end your consultation. Your practice hasn't been notified and won't contact you about your request. You should still seek medical advice
soon.

Based on your answers, you may need urgent advice.
• Call the practice on xxxxx”

So I may need urgent advice but that won’t apparently be with a doctor.

Complete waste of time. Doesn’t work. Cannot complain enough.

Fix this excuse of a system before people start dying from the incompetence.

Then rang my doctors surgery and sat in the queue for 20mins before getting an appointment.

It doesn't work.
I tried to book an appointment and was presented with a message saying, "Your practice isn’t accepting online requests at this time. You can submit a request again from 8am tomorrow". Why would an online form only be accessible in office hours? I called the surgery and was told by the receptionist that you can only book an appointment on the phone for an urgent matter, which required an appointment that day. ALL other appointments have to go via this awful service. But the criteria for turning off econsult is, when there are no appointments available that day... So if they have no availability today, you can't book for the future, and you can't book for the future via the phone either, so you have to call on the day you need the appointment, which is the exact same situation that has always existed that this system was supposed to solve. It's an awful process that has clearly not been thought through, poorly implemented, and a terrible UI. I wonder how many backhanders where made to get a multi billion pound contract for a service that doesn't even do anything. NHS crying poverty while, at best, grossly mismanaging funds, or much more likely, being incredibly corrupt.

Just another layer of unnecessary complication , and serves to to frustrate users, what the NHS should mandate is that your doctors answer the phone and can book an appointment, wouldn't that be simple!!!

This is an utterly awful system for bookng an appointment to see your local GP! Ridiculously long winded & time consuming questionnaire to be filled out - a couple of words describing why you need an appointment is all that should be needed - I'll go through everything else with the GP! I just want to book an appointment for my son. I want to know if I am getting an appointment or not and, if so, when. Automated systems are the absolute pits. Beyond frustrating experience. Just let me speak to a person and make an appointment!