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EMMA Gave Incorrect Processing Times for Sick Notes or Medical Records

Purpose of Document

Practices occasionally raise complaints that EMMA has told a patient an incorrect turnaround time for a sick note, fit note, medical records request, or similar admin document. This creates friction between the practice and the patient, who then contacts the surgery expecting the request to be fulfilled in the timeframe EMMA quoted. Staff must understand how EMMA's processing time messaging works, what can cause incorrect information, and how to fix it.

Background: How EMMA Communicates Processing Times

EMMA does not have a live connection to a practice's internal workflow or appointment book. She cannot know in real time how quickly a surgery will action a particular request. Instead, EMMA communicates processing times based on information configured in her surgery-specific prompt.

Each surgery has a dedicated prompt configuration that includes surgery-specific messages such as processing times, turnaround expectations, and any custom instructions relevant to that surgery's workflows. This configuration sits in EMMA's centralised Prompt Registry, introduced in March 2026 as part of the centralised prompt management infrastructure update.

If a processing time is incorrect, it is almost always because:

  • The surgery's prompt was configured with an incorrect or outdated timeframe
  • The surgery's processing times have changed since go-live and the prompt has not been updated
  • A generic default was used instead of a surgery-specific value during onboarding
  • EMMA misheard or misunderstood the patient's request and applied the wrong processing time category

Processing time messaging applies most commonly to these request types:

  • Sick notes and fit notes
  • Medical records requests
  • GP letters
  • Medical reports
  • Maternity exemption certificates
  • Referral letters

Common Causes and What to Check

1. The surgery's prompt contains an outdated or incorrect processing time

This is the most common cause. A processing time was set during onboarding and has since changed, but the prompt was never updated to reflect the change.

What to do:

  • Ask the practice what processing time EMMA quoted and what the correct time is
  • Raise a prompt configuration update request with the engineering or configuration team
  • Provide the surgery name, ODS code, the request type affected, and the correct processing time to use
  • Confirm with the practice once the update has been applied
  • Ask the practice to monitor for 24 to 48 hours to confirm EMMA is now quoting the correct information

2. A generic default processing time was used during onboarding instead of a surgery-specific value

During onboarding, if a surgery did not provide specific processing time preferences, EMMA may have been configured with a generic default that does not match how that practice actually operates.

What to do:

  • Ask the practice what their correct processing times are for the affected request types
  • Raise a prompt configuration update to replace the generic default with surgery-specific values
  • Take this opportunity to review and update all processing time messaging for that surgery, not just the one that was flagged

3. EMMA's wait-time wording in deflection messages was inconsistent across surgeries

Before March 2026, some practices had transfer deflection messages that included specific wait-time commitments such as "current wait time could be up to an hour." This wording differed across surgery configurations and could cause patient confusion.

As of March 2026, all transfer agent prompts across every practice now use a single consistent deflection message with no specific wait-time commitment. This eliminates the risk of inaccurate wait-time commitments being communicated to patients during transfer deflection.

What to do:

  • If a practice raises a complaint about wait-time wording in a deflection message, check whether this occurred before or after the March 2026 update
  • If occurring after March 2026, check the surgery's specific prompt configuration for any custom override that may have reintroduced a specific time commitment
  • If a custom override exists and is incorrect, raise a prompt update request

4. EMMA misidentified the request type and applied the wrong processing time

If a patient described their request ambiguously, for example saying "I need a letter" without specifying whether it is a GP letter, a referral letter, or a medical report, EMMA may have categorised it differently to what the patient intended and communicated a processing time for the wrong request type.

What to do:

  • Review the call recording for the affected call
  • Confirm what the patient said and how EMMA categorised the request
  • If EMMA's categorisation was reasonable given what the patient said, explain this to the practice
  • If the categorisation appears incorrect regardless of what the patient said, escalate to engineering with the call ID

How Processing Times Are Configured

Processing time messaging is part of each surgery's dedicated prompt in the centralised Prompt Registry. As of March 2026, this is fully centralised and changes can be made without engineering code changes.

To request a processing time update for a surgery:

  1. Confirm the surgery name and ODS code
  2. Confirm the specific request types affected (for example: sick notes, medical records, GP letters)
  3. Confirm the correct processing time for each affected request type as provided by the practice
  4. Raise a prompt configuration update request with the configuration or engineering team
  5. Confirm the expected turnaround for the update, typically within one to two business days
  6. Notify the practice once the update is live and ask them to monitor for 24 to 48 hours

What to Tell the Practice

Keep communication factual and solution-focused. Example wording:

"The processing time EMMA quoted to your patient comes from your surgery's configuration. It sounds like this needs to be updated to reflect your current turnaround times. Could you confirm the correct processing times for sick notes and any other request types you would like us to update? We will get this changed promptly and let you know once it is live."

If the practice is concerned about patients who have already been given incorrect information:

"We would recommend letting reception know that if any patients contact you about the processing time EMMA quoted, the team can advise them of the correct timeframe. We are updating EMMA's configuration now to prevent this from happening on future calls."

Common Mistakes

  • Telling the practice EMMA generates processing times dynamically based on live data. She does not. All processing times come from configured prompts.
  • Raising a prompt update request without confirming the exact correct processing time from the practice first
  • Only updating the specific request type the practice flagged without checking whether other processing times in the same prompt are also correct
  • Not following up with the practice after the update to confirm EMMA is now quoting correctly

Escalation Guidance

Escalate to engineering if:

  • A prompt update has been applied but EMMA is still quoting the incorrect processing time after 48 hours
  • Multiple surgeries are reporting incorrect processing times simultaneously, which may indicate a system-level prompt issue
  • EMMA is consistently miscategorising request types regardless of how clearly the patient describes them, resulting in the wrong processing time being applied

When escalating, always include:

  • Surgery name and ODS code
  • Request type affected
  • Processing time EMMA quoted
  • Correct processing time as confirmed by the practice
  • Call ID if the issue relates to a specific miscategorisation
  • Date the prompt update was requested if applicable

Last Reviewed: May 2026 Owner: Support and Customer Success