What's changed?
From 1st of October 2025, practices will need to keep their online consultation tools open throughout core hours (8am–6:30pm, Monday to Friday) for certain non-urgent requests.1 This includes:
Routine, non-urgent appointment requests
Medication queries
Administrative requests
The change is part of NHS England’s commitment to improving patient access.
What changes have been made to Patient Triage, and what support is available?
A new admin form for non-urgent routine requests: See what it looks like here.
A hard close on form submissions at the end of the day: patients will no longer be able to submit a request after closing, even if they’ve started filling out the form.
Clearer messages for patients: new badges show patients when the forms are available, and new warning banners prevent patients from submitting medical issues via admin forms.
Default opening hours updated to 8am–6:30pm: you can still customise the hours your forms are available. Click here to see how to do this.
Improved configuration: it is easier to customise the hours your admin and medical forms are available. Click here to find out how to use these settings!
Additional support for practices looking to adopt or improve total triage: we recognise that moving to extended online access cannot be solved by software alone, so we’ve increased the support available to help your practice operate or optimise a total triage model to help manage inbound. Over 1,150 practices now use a total triage model, and you can join them by starting here!
FAQs
What if the options in the “routine care” drop-down include things we don’t offer/ don't include options we want to offer?
What if the options in the “routine care” drop-down include things we don’t offer/ don't include options we want to offer?
The options in the dropdown list reflect common routine care requests that patients might make, and the list was constructed based on discussions by our clinical team and conversations with practices. We acknowledge that there might be some aspects of care that are not delivered by certain practices, and practices may deliver additional services that are not captured here.
As the form does not book care directly and instead surfaces the request within the inbox, practices can respond as they normally would, for example, if there is no in-house smoking cessation service, you can reply with directions to local or national stop smoking services and resources to support your patients. Practices also have the ability to toggle this form on and off in its entirety to support varied ways of managing routine care at a practice level.
If you feel there are more options that could be offered here, please share your feedback through support@accurx.com or by clicking the green message icon in the bottom right corner of our website or help centre.
How do I configure Patient Triage to make our practice compliant with the requirements around online consultation access?
How do I configure Patient Triage to make our practice compliant with the requirements around online consultation access?
Accurx Patient Triage is flexible and allows setup in different ways depending on how individual practices work. How to configure this when considering compliance with contract requirements is for each practice to decide, often in partnership with their respective ICB.
We understand there may be some variability in how practices work and want to assure you that we'll continue to collect and be responsive to feedback and make necessary updates as required for you and your patients. We also acknowledge that software is not the sole consideration in changing ways of working, and so we offer support for practices looking to adapt their workflows to manage demand better. You can arrange a free training call with one of our ambassador practices (an existing total triage practice) and find out more information here.
Can I configure the medical and admin forms to close at different specific times?
Can I configure the medical and admin forms to close at different specific times?
We have historically allowed practices to customise the “opening hours” in general, but have received a lot of feedback indicating that being able to have more granular control over which forms are available when would be beneficial. That is why we are working on and going to release changes that mean you will be able to set separate times for your admin / routine care and your medical forms independently of one another.
The customisable messages that were previously surfaced depending on whether your practice is within or outside your “core hours”, will now change over when one or both of them are not available.
NB: For practices who wish to have both medical and admin / routine care forms live 24 hours a day, it is important to update the custom “Forms available” messaging (which will be the only message shown all day) to direct patients on what to do at different hours of the day.
What is there to prevent a patient from raising urgent medical issues in the admin free-text boxes?
What is there to prevent a patient from raising urgent medical issues in the admin free-text boxes?
Although there is a risk that patients may add information inappropriate to the request type or urgency in any free-text box, we know that free-text boxes are extremely valuable for allowing patients to articulate themselves and for healthcare professionals to have the information necessary to deliver care. We received a lot of feedback from practices that a free-text box would be beneficial for gathering more information in the routine care form, so we have added it back into this form.
NB: If a practice wishes to, they can also now suspend the routine care form entirely to suit their workflows and needs.
Across the product, we have mitigations in place to reduce the risk of patients entering inappropriate information in these free-text boxes, including:
A warning box on the form landing page that is customisable by the practice to articulate turnaround times, processes, and to set expectations, with a permanent message underneath on what to do if more urgent help is required.
A warning page at the start of each form that directs a patient to A&E or 999 if they have an emergency
Clear delineation on each option as to what it should be used for
An additional warning on all admin forms that they are not to be used for new or ongoing symptoms, with a link back to the landing page where they can see what options for medical help are available:
Can I switch off the “routine care” option entirely?
Can I switch off the “routine care” option entirely?
The Routine Care form can be switched on/off by admin users via the Patient Triage settings under 'Forms' 👇
If you still have any questions or concerns, feel free to chat with us using the green message bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of this page. 👉