E-Consult Terms & Conditions
Last updated: 29/09/2026
1. About These Terms
These terms apply to your use of the e-consult system provided by Mental Health and Well Being Services Ltd (MHWS), a company registered in England and Wales (company number 07494630) with its registered office at First Floor, Oak House, Shrewsbury Business Park, Shrewsbury, SY2 6LG. MHWS is registered with the Care Quality Commission (provider ID 1-4079013666; location ID 1-9443754108).
These terms should be read together with our Privacy Notice, which explains how we collect, use, store and share your personal information, how long we keep it, and your rights. Where these terms refer to your information, the Privacy Notice is the authoritative source.
The e-consult system may be extended to include other features and may be renamed. If we make significant changes to these terms, we will ask you to accept the new terms before you continue using e-consult. If you choose not to accept them, you may not be able to use some or all of its features. This will not affect your rights over your information, or your ability to contact us or make a complaint.
2. Who Can Use E-Consult
Access by Invitation
E-consult is available by invitation only to private Service Users of MHWS, and to Service User Representatives acting on their behalf. It is not used for NHS services. Whether e-consult is suitable for you is decided by your clinician.
Accounts Held by a Guardian or Representative
Where a Service User is a child, or needs support to use e-consult, the account is held by their Service User Representative such as a parent, guardian or carer. Accounts cannot be transferred from a guardian or representative to the Service User. If the Service User is later invited to use e-consult themselves, they will need to register a new account. Previous e-consults will not appear in the new account but remain part of their clinical record.
Using E-Consult From the UK
E-consult is provided for use within the United Kingdom only. You must be physically located in the UK when you submit an e-consult. If you are outside the UK, you should not submit an e-consult and should contact us if you need information about your care.
3. Not for Emergencies
E-consult is not for urgent or emergency care. If you or someone else needs help urgently:
- In an emergency, or if there is an immediate risk to life, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E.
- For urgent medical advice, contact NHS 111 or your GP.
- If you are experiencing distress or despair, the Samaritans offer 24/7 support on 116 123.
- For urgent concerns about treatment you are receiving from MHWS, call us on 01743 297 937 during our opening hours.
4. Using Your Account
Your Responsibilities
When using e-consult, you agree:
- To not share your account with anyone else
- To provide information that is complete, accurate and up to date. You will need to enter a recent blood pressure, heart rate and weight reading before you can submit your e-consult. These can be taken at home, at a community pharmacy or at your GP practice
- Please note: some pharmacies may charge for these services
- That if you are a Service User Representative, act only within the authority you have to represent the Service User
- To communicate with our staff respectfully. We may suspend or close an account that is used to send abusive, threatening or inappropriate messages.
If you record or share any part of your care with us, please see the section on Service User recording of consultations in our Privacy Notice.
Availability and Security
We aim to keep e-consult available at all times, but it may occasionally be unavailable, for example during maintenance or because of a technical problem. If you cannot access e-consult, please contact us by phone or through our website.
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information. However, no online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and you can help keep your information safe by:
- Using a device and email account that only you, or your Service User Representative, can access
- Not saving your password on shared or public devices, and signing out after each session
- Keeping your device's software up to date
If you think someone else has accessed your account or your information, please contact us straight away. We are not responsible for access to your account or information that results from your login details, device or email account being used by someone else, unless this is caused by a failure on our part.
5. How E-Consults Are Handled
Response Times
We aim to respond to each e-consult within 3 working days (Monday-Friday) of it being submitted. Occasionally it may take longer, and if so we will let you know.
Clinical Assessment and Prescribing
E-consults are currently reviewed by our Clinical Leads, who are registered with the relevant UK professional regulator. Details of their roles and registrations are available on our Clinical Leadership page.
The outcome of each e-consult depends on the reviewing clinician's clinical judgement. It may include advice, a request for more information, an appointment, a referral elsewhere, or treatment, which may include a prescription.
Your clinician may ask you to confirm or repeat any measurements you have entered, or to have them checked in person, if they appear inaccurate, out of date or raise a concern. Treatment may not proceed until this has been done.
Submitting or paying for an e-consult does not guarantee any particular outcome, including a prescription. All prescribing decisions are made by an appropriately qualified clinician, in line with Our Prescribing Principles.
6. Fees, Refunds and Payments
Fees
The fee for an e-consult is paid when you submit it. Current fees are shown on our Fees page.
Your Right to Cancel
Before paying, you will be asked to confirm that you would like your e-consult to be reviewed by a clinician as soon as possible, and that you understand you will no longer be able to cancel it for a refund once a clinician has assessed it.
Refunds
If a clinician has not yet assessed your e-consult, you can contact us to cancel it and receive a full refund. Once a clinician has assessed your e-consult, refunds are at the discretion of our Managing Directors. Refunds are made to the original payment method. This does not affect your statutory rights.
Payments
Payments are processed securely by Stripe, our payment provider. We do not see or store your card details. We keep a record of the name of the person who made the payment (the cardholder), the date and time of the payment, and the Stripe payment reference. This payment record is kept separately from your clinical record and is retained in accordance with our Record Keeping Policy, as described in our Privacy Notice.
7. Your Information
Everything submitted through e-consult, together with our responses and the outcome of each e-consult, is transferred to your clinical record within the Clinical Management System we use for your care. This applies regardless of the outcome, including where an e-consult is declined, redirected, or closed without further action.
Once transferred, this information forms part of your clinical record and is retained in accordance with our Record Keeping Policy, as described in our Privacy Notice. It is not kept only for as long as your e-consult account exists.
Our Privacy Notice explains your rights and how to exercise them, including how to request a copy of the information we hold about you.
8. Account Suspension, Closure and Deletion
Deleting an e-consult account never deletes your clinical record. You can ask for a copy of the information we hold about you at any time, as explained in our Privacy Notice.
Declined Registrations
If we cannot match a registration to someone we have invited, we will let them know by email within 5 working days. The account and any details provided with it are deleted at the same time.
Incomplete Registrations
If a registration is started but not completed, it will be deleted without notice two weeks after it was started, along with any details entered.
Unused Accounts
If an account has been successfully registered and approved, but no e-consult is submitted within 6 months of approval, the account will be deleted without further notice, along with the details provided when registering. If you are invited to use e-consult again, you will need to register again.
Suspended Accounts
If you are not currently eligible to use e-consult, we may suspend your account. A suspended account cannot be used to submit new e-consults, but you will still be able to view your previous e-consults. A suspended account will be treated as inactive, and deleted as described below, 12 months after your last e-consult or the date of suspension, whichever is later.
Inactive Accounts
If an account has been used to submit at least one e-consult, but no further e-consult has been submitted for 12 months, the account will be deleted without further notice. Your previous e-consults will already form part of your clinical record and will not be affected. If you are invited to use e-consult again, you will need to register a new account, and it will not show your previous e-consults.
Closing Your Account
You can ask us to close your e-consult account at any time. We will delete your account and login details, but information already added to your clinical record will be retained in accordance with our Record Keeping Policy, as described in our Privacy Notice.
9. Complaints
If you are unhappy with any part of our service, please see our Complaints & Feedback page for how to raise a concern and what happens next.
10. Our Responsibility to You
We provide e-consult with reasonable care and skill. Nothing in these terms limits our liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as problems with your device or internet connection.
11. Governing Law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in the courts where you live.
12. Contact Us
If you have any questions about these terms, please contact us:
- Online: via our website contact form
- Telephone: 01743 297 937, within our opening hours
- Post: Mental Health and Well Being Services Ltd, Oak House, Sitka Drive, Shrewsbury Business Park, Shrewsbury, SY2 6LG