Enhanced Advice & Guidance
Rapid access to pre-referral advice from specialists
Why choose our Enhanced A&G service?
As the UK’s most widely used Enhanced Advice & Guidance (A&G) service, we connect healthcare professionals with specialists across the NHS. In many cases, a rapid conversation with a specialist can prevent unnecessary referrals or hospital admissions – improving patient outcomes while easing pressure on the system. Our technology enables near-instant access to specialist A&G across a variety of pathways.
Reduce unnecessary referrals and hospital visits
Improve pathway efficiencies and save costs
Real-time data and insights
Reduced admin burden with faster, more informed decisions
Support across multiple specialties and disciplines
Key benefits
Reduce unnecessary referrals and hospital visits
- 70% of A&G queries avoid unnecessary referrals, easing pressure on hospital services
- Read our Performance Benchmarks report for further impact data
Improve pathway efficiencies and save costs
- Reliable access to specialist A&G streamlines elective care pathways, reduces waiting lists and unnecessary specialist appointments
- When it is safe to do so, A&G helps keep patients in primary and community care settings, preventing potentially costly, unnecessary hospital admissions
- Read our case studies for real-life examples
Real-time data insights
- Monitor and evaluate A&G activity with real-time insights to inform your commissioning decisions
- Regularly supports NHS income-generating initiatives, such as the Elective Recovery Fund (ERF) and the latest Enhanced Service Specification, helping to drive and maximise additional funding opportunities
- The Elective Recovery Outpatient Collection (EROC) codes are built into our data, eliminating admin burden for your system
Reduced admin burden with faster, more informed decisions
- Multi-channel access via phone, instant messaging or e-RS is designed to fit existing clinical workflows and personal preferences
- Instant access to senior specialists for elective care queries leads to quicker, more informed clinical decisions
- Calls are answered in 30 seconds and last 3 minutes on average, making collaboration between clinicians quicker and easier
- Written queries are responded to in under 6 hours on average
Support across multiple specialties and disciplines
- Our flexible interface allows you to connect any healthcare professional to any healthcare professional, expanding support beyond GP-to-consultant interactions
- The National Consultant Network (NCN) can provide remote A&G across all main elective specialties, and can be switched on in under 48 hours to address local capacity challenges. Find out more.
Real-time data and insights
- Access A&G data in real-time to help track trends, manage demand and improve productivity and efficiency
Faster treatment and improved outcomes
- Avoid delays in care with quicker access to specialist advice, leading to faster diagnosis and treatment
- Timely, expert advice ensures that patients receive the right care at the right time, improving overall health outcomes
More convenient care
Who we are
At Consultant Connect, we’re transforming how NHS healthcare professionals access and deliver specialist advice. What started as a telephone advice service for GPs to contact consultants has evolved into our ‘multi-channel’ Enhanced A&G services – via telephone, instant messaging, or e-RS – all designed to fit seamlessly into existing clinical workflows.
Today, our services support over half of the NHS, including:
120 Hospitals
11,000 Consultants
5,600 GP Practices
45 million NHS patients
Our unique network of NHS consultants
To address local clinical capacity challenges, NHS areas increasingly turn to our National Consultant Network (NCN) for short – or long-term support. The NCN brings in the expertise of NHS consultants across all main elective specialties to provide remote A&G and can be switched on/off in as little as 48h.
All A&G activity is IG-secure, GDPR-compliant, and recorded for medico-legal purposes, ensuring safety and accountability in every interaction.
Our team of dedicated Account Managers handles all setup, administration, and ongoing updates, allowing your teams to focus on what matters most: delivering excellent patient care. Find out more about our team.
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