‘It’s been fantastic; we’re finally capturing data to quantify call volumes, which is something we’ve never been able to do before.’
Enhanced Advice & Guidance has been available across all seven health boards in Wales since 2020, connecting clinicians with specialists for quick and expert support over the phone and via messaging.
Follow-Up Calls is an additional feature of the service, enabling clinicians to securely contact patients and track their pathways.
We spoke with Deb Collier, Assistant Directorate Manager of Neurology, whose Epilepsy Nursing Team in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board is the first in Wales to utilise this functionality. Deb explained the challenges her team were facing and how Consultant Connect helped overcome them:
‘The Epilepsy Nursing Team receive voicemails from patients whose frequency of seizures has increased and may require medication adjustments, or who are newly diagnosed and have recently started medication.
‘The epilepsy coordinator then assigns one of the nurses to call the patient back. Prior to using Follow-Up Calls via Consultant Connect, the coordinator would email both nurses on the team; however, this sometimes meant that nobody knew which patients had already been contacted.
‘There was also no data capture: we couldn’t record what plan of action was decided at the end of the call, or whether further follow-up was required. Additionally, the sheer volume of calls was creating an unsustainable workload for the nurses. Telephone calls were impacting the weekly face-to-face review clinic, but we had no data to evidence this.’
With the nursing team expanding from two to four members, Deb knew a new structure was needed:
‘In May 2025, we launched the Epilepsy Patient Follow-Up Line, and more than 2,000 calls have been received so far. Patients still phone in to the service in the same way, but now the coordinator loads the details of each voicemail onto Consultant Connect and assigns a nurse to follow up.
‘The nurse then securely contacts the patient via Consultant Connect, and once the conversation concludes, they can record an outcome.’
What has the impact of the service been like so far?
‘It’s been fantastic; we’re finally capturing data to quantify call volumes, which is something we’ve never been able to do before.
‘The data has shown that nurses spend approximately two hours per day contacting patients. This means I can job plan around those calls, ensuring no one is overloaded. We’ve been able to increase clinic capacity, plan our demand, and utilise the nurses’ expertise to the best of our ability.
‘We’ve also created a bespoke set of outcomes for our calls to align with those used on our internal systems, and added options for when patients were not contactable, making it easier to track them through the system.’
The team’s feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Based on their input, a separate workstream for MDT follow-up calls has also been added:
‘Now, when speaking to patients, if they’re eligible for an MDT discussion, the nurses can create an IG-secure message within Consultant Connect.
‘This forms part of the weekly MDT meeting agenda, and the details of what was discussed – along with the plan of action – are recorded in the message outcome.
‘The unintended benefit is that this has also given the MDT meetings more structure. Before, there wasn’t a clear timeline or agenda, but this new process has created a natural flow for the team.’
How is this service beneficial for patients?
‘Our data indicates patients who didn’t answer callbacks, how much time has been spent on calls, and who our frequent callers are.
‘Epilepsy can be a chaotic illness, and many patients also experience poor mental health as a result. This means we can get a lot of repeat callers, who might not always require clinical support from our team.
‘Identifying these callers allows us to direct them to more appropriate pathways, such as Epilepsy Action support groups.
‘Conversely, we can also spot patients who might need a higher level of care, so we can add them to a consultant-led pathway or contact their GP for support.
‘Using Follow-Up Calls has meant we can plan more effectively and deliver truly patient-centred care in a more timely manner and efficient way.’
What are your plans for the future of this service?
‘It was a no-brainer to use Consultant Connect for Follow-Up calls. The success of the Epilepsy Patient Follow-Up Line has become a blueprint for rolling out to two other nursing teams: the Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) and the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) team.
‘We hope that expanding the service across these teams will provide more structure for the clinicians, a useful tool for evidencing workload and job planning, and reassurance that patient queries are handled quickly and efficiently.’
To download a PDF of this case study, please click here.
* Data correct as of November 2025.
