With requests for Advice & Guidance (A&G) rising by 66.3% since 2022 (Royal College of Physicians) and over six million patients currently on referral waiting lists (The Guardian), the need for streamlined management of clinical worklists has never been greater.
Our recent panel discussion, ‘e-RS Connect: Discover the new release for faster A&G and triage’, brought together NHS consultants to explore how e-RS Connect is enhancing A&G efficiency and helping Trusts unlock valuable clinical capacity at a time when it’s needed most. e-RS Connect was built in collaboration with the NHS e-RS team to optimise A&G and referral workflows, allowing specialist teams to manage cases 2-4 times faster whilst remaining fully integrated with existing e-RS workflows.
Demonstrating the new release
Marija Tofts, Account Manager & New Solutions Implementation Lead at Consultant Connect, demonstrated the new service features – including thumbnail previews of attachments, bespoke response templates, and instant Excel data exports for real-time analysis and reporting.
Since launch, more than 15,000 cases have already been reviewed on the platform, reflecting strong adoption and tangible benefits across multiple Trusts and specialties.
Dermatology: faster reviews and richer insights
Dr Suzannah August, Consultant Dermatologist at University Hospitals of Dorset, shared how e-RS Connect is transforming her team’s ability to handle large A&G volumes efficiently:
‘We receive approximately 160 A&G requests per week, including all dermatology referrals since 2020. Native e-RS is not very user-friendly and lacks many of the functions that e-RS Connect provides, which is why we were interested in the new service.
‘Configuring the platform is easy – we no longer have to manually type which clinic to book patients into. Dropdown lists make instructions clearer for administrators and simpler for consultants. As a visual specialty, GPs often include 10-15 attachments per dermatology referral; downloading all of these on native e-RS is slow and time-consuming. On e-RS Connect, we can preview images instantly without downloading, and the system integrates directly with the electronic patient record (EPR) once a response is submitted, removing the need for admin staff to upload files manually.’
Dr August also highlighted the impact of enhanced reporting and data exports:
‘We can flag cases, add notes, and see these comments within the exported spreadsheet – extremely useful for setting up extra clinics.
‘When we began using e-RS Connect, we faced a significant backlog of referrals. Consultant Connect provided an out-of-area NHS consultant dermatologist on the National Consultant Network (NCN) to help triage referrals and provide GPs with detailed management plans for patients who didn’t require appointments. The NCN consultant joined our clinic briefing to ensure advice aligned with our local pathways, and we shared our standard operating procedure to support the process. For patients who did need appointments, our in-house team used the bespoke letter templates within e-RS Connect, making responses quicker and more consistent.
‘The enhanced reporting functionality has been vital – we now have granular insights into the number of patients sent to specific clinics, which supports service management. For instance, it helped us identify a new staff member who was sending all lesions to the 2WW pathway, allowing us to provide targeted education.
‘Admins particularly value the inclusion of NHS numbers in reports, which native e-RS doesn’t offer, making waiting list management far easier.’
Paediatrics: saving time and improving auditability
Dr Kim Neuling, Consultant Paediatrician and Lead Clinician for Paediatric Oncology at University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, shared how e-RS Connect is driving measurable time savings and better collaboration:
‘Our decision to start using e-RS Connect came about because we were triaging referrals individually, and patients were being booked into the wrong clinic slots. Being able to view images and documents without downloading saves several minutes on every referral, leading to substantial time savings overall.
‘We can also see team results immediately, which supports job planning. Each consultant triages their own list, but sometimes delegation is necessary, and this is much more visible on e-RS Connect.
‘The ability to save partially written responses is invaluable – especially for cases requiring collaboration. With native e-RS, draft responses can’t be saved, and unless you manually save a copy of your A&G reply, it’s not traceable once submitted.
‘In contrast, e-RS Connect allows all past A&G cases to be reviewed and audited, enabling us to identify recurrent themes and feed them into future education. GPs now receive more detailed and in-depth responses because the time previously spent on downloading and accessing requests is now redirected to patient management.’
As A&G and referral activity continue to grow, the experiences shared by Dr August and Dr Neuling show how e-RS Connect is not only simplifying day-to-day processes but also enhancing data visibility, collaboration, and clinical education. By giving specialists the ability to work more efficiently, and ensuring GPs receive timely high-quality guidance, e-RS Connect is supporting NHS Trusts in unlocking capacity, reducing administrative burden, and improving patient flow across pathways.
To find out how e-RS Connect can support your NHS area, or to request a demo, please contact us on 01865 951207 or email hello@consultantconnect.org.uk.
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