Average cost of all initial primary care actions in response to an e-consultation*
| All initial response actions | n | % All e-consultations (n=482) | Average cost per e-consultation |
| GP face-to-face appointments | 186 | 39 | £12.73 |
| GP telephone calls | 187 | 39 | £7.76 |
| Nurse face-to-face contacts† | 70 | 15 | £1.76 |
| Nurse telephone appointments | 0 | 0 | £0.00 |
| Prescriptions | 151 | 31 | £1.25 |
| Fit notes | 31 | 6 | £0.37 |
| Routine referral letters | 56 | 12 | £0.67 |
| 2-Week wait referral letters | 10 | 2 | £0.12 |
| GP given advice by email | 125 | 26 | £0.00 |
| Other GP actions | 108 | 22 | £0.00 |
| Unknown GP actions | 15 | 3 | £0.00 |
| GP-led triage cost | £11.60 | ||
| Average cost of e-consultation | £36.28 |
*Staff time collected from individual patient data from eight practices participating in the audit. Triage time of 5 min per e-consultation was assumed based on responses in our companion qualitative study. Staff time valued using 2015 unit costs for health and social care (Curtis and Burns, PSSRU).
†Includes treatment room and tests.
GP, general practitioner.