Can you email my GP?
No, not normally.
Rather it depends [“thanks CKDEx!” Ed].
Emailing a GP and Online Consultations are very different ways of contacting your surgery. Not all surgeries provide online consultations. We will explain.
Online consultations (or ‘e-consults’)
Online consultations are where you message your surgery by completing an online webform via your GP practice website. You can use your smartphone, tablet or computer to have an online consultation.
You will be asked various questions and have the chance to upload photographs where appropriate.
These are not for any urgent advice and could take several days to get a response and will only be monitored during normal working hours. They are useful for routine queries. You are normally messaged back via a secure portal. It is not designed for ongoing conversations – i.e. one email leads to one response.
Some surgeries will request that you do this first for most contacts with the surgery, and it can help you get advice from the best person by being triaged first. Some examples of the uses for this could be: requesting a prescription, asking for a blood test, requesting a sick note or advice on a new skin or hip condition.
But. Can you email my GP?
Emailing your GP
Emailing your GP surgery is quite different. Most surgeries will not accept medical queries via this route. Emails are not monitored constantly and therefore it is not safe to request advice via emails. Often surgeries will only accept correspondence from other healthcare teams, such as hospital teams and community teams and is not for patient use.
But it can be a good way of handing over information – i.e. one where a response is not required. Examples include a copy of a letter from a previous consultant, or current blood pressure, or telling them about a new tablet started by the hospital etc.
Your surgery website will advise you on this issue. Some may allow for prescription requests via email. None of these systems should be used to bypass the normal appointment system. NEVER request urgent advice by any electronic form of communication.
Here are some other examples of things not to email about:
- A medical review for a contraceptive medication
- If you require an appointment or a letter from the GP
- If you wish to make a complaint.
Summary
We have answered the question, can you email my GP. No, not in the normal way that you can email a friend or work colleague.
But there are ways described above where some form of email contact is possible.
