EMMA is Sending Forms to the Wrong Inbox: Admin Versus Clinical

Purpose of Document

Incorrect form routing is a recurring post-go-live complaint. Practices report that certain patient requests are landing in the wrong inbox, creating admin confusion, increasing workload, and in some cases raising clinical concerns. This article ensures support staff understand how EMMA routes forms, what causes misrouting, and how to fix it quickly.

Background: How EMMA Routes Forms

EMMA categorises each patient call and submits it to the appropriate form type within the practice's online consultation tool. There are three form types:

Each form type routes to a different inbox or workflow within the practice's consultation tool. EMMA determines which form to use based on what the patient tells her during the call.

The most common complaint is that requests are landing in the admin inbox when the practice expects them in the clinical inbox, or vice versa. A real example from our client history: blood test requests were being categorised as administrative rather than routine, which caused form routing confusion and increased admin workload.

Common Causes and What to Check

1. The patient's description did not match EMMA's categorisation logic

EMMA categorises the request based on the patient's own words. If a patient describes a blood test as "just chasing a result" rather than "booking a blood test appointment," EMMA may interpret this as an admin query rather than a routine request and route it accordingly.

What to do:

• Review the call recording for the affected enquiry if available
• Check how the patient described their request
• If the 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 details

2. The form configuration for that surgery is incorrectly mapped

During onboarding, each surgery's form routing is configured based on their consultation tool setup. If the mapping was set up incorrectly, certain enquiry types may consistently route to the wrong inbox.

What to do:

• Check the form configuration for that surgery in the internal system
• Confirm which inbox each form type is mapped to
• If the mapping is wrong, contact the engineering or configuration team to update it
• Confirm with the practice once the fix is applied and ask them to monitor for 24 to 48 hours

3. Redirected enquiries appearing in the admin inbox

As of May 2026 a fix was released after redirected enquiries were incorrectly surfacing in the practice admin inbox. Admin teams were seeing unnecessary submissions that did not require any action, creating noise in their workflow.

What to do:

• If the practice reports seeing irrelevant or duplicate entries in the admin inbox, check whether this predates or postdates 1 May 2026
• If before that date, this was a known platform issue now resolved
• If after that date and still occurring, escalate to engineering with the affected enquiry IDs and surgery ODS code

4. eConsult admin enquiry subtype not structured correctly

Before February 2026, eConsult admin enquiries did not have dedicated subtype-specific email templates. This meant the structure of admin emails could vary, making it harder for practice staff to identify where a request had come from and which inbox it should be actioned from.

As of 25 February 2026, all eConsult admin enquiry types now use structured, mapped email templates covering:

• Discuss Test
• Sick Note
• Medication Request
• GP Letter
• Medical Report
• Maternity Exemption
• Other Enquiry

What to do:

• If a practice using eConsult reports confusion about admin email structure or routing, confirm they are receiving the updated structured templates
• If the emails still appear unstructured, escalate to engineering with the surgery's ODS code and consultation tool details

5. The practice's consultation tool has separate inbox configurations EMMA is not aware of

Some practices configure their consultation tool to send different enquiry subtypes to different team inboxes internally. For example, a practice may route all medication queries to one team and all sick note requests to another. EMMA submits to the public-facing form correctly, but the internal inbox routing is managed within the consultation tool itself, not by EMMA.

What to do:

• Clarify to the practice that EMMA submits to the correct form type based on the patient's request
• Internal inbox routing within their consultation tool is controlled by the practice, not by QuantumLoop AI
• Offer to connect the practice with their consultation tool provider if they need help adjusting their internal inbox settings

Step-by-Step Triage Process

1. Ask the practice to give a specific example. Which enquiry type is going to the wrong inbox? What inbox is it landing in versus where they expect it?
2. Review the call recording for the affected enquiry if available to understand what the patient said.
3. Check the form configuration for that surgery to confirm the inbox mapping is correct.
4. Check whether the practice uses eConsult. If so, confirm they are receiving the updated structured admin email templates introduced in February 2026.
5. Check whether the issue involves redirected enquiries appearing in the admin inbox. If so, confirm whether this predates the May 2026 fix.
6. If no configuration issue is found and categorisation appears incorrect regardless of the patient's description, escalate to engineering.

What to Tell the Practice

Keep communication factual and calm. Example wording:

"EMMA routes each request based on what the patient describes during the call. We are reviewing the specific enquiries you have flagged to understand whether this is a categorisation issue or a configuration issue on our side. We will come back to you with an update shortly."

Do not confirm a fault until you have reviewed the call and checked the configuration.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming it is always a platform fault without first reviewing what the patient said during the call
• Confusing internal inbox routing within the consultation tool with EMMA's form routing
• Not checking whether the issue predates or postdates the May 2026 redirected enquiries fix
• Escalating without first checking the surgery's form configuration mapping
• Telling the practice that EMMA controls their internal inbox routing within their consultation tool

Escalation Guidance

Escalate to engineering if:

• The form configuration mapping is confirmed correct but routing is still wrong
• Multiple enquiry types are consistently miscategorised regardless of patient descriptions
• The redirected enquiry admin inbox issue is occurring after 1 May 2026
• A clinical safety concern has been raised due to a clinical request landing in the admin inbox without being actioned

When escalating, always include:

• Surgery name and ODS code
• Consultation tool used
• Specific enquiry types affected
• Examples of affected enquiry IDs if available
• Description of where submissions are landing versus where they should be going

• Any call recording references if reviewed

Last Reviewed: May 2026 Owner: Support and Customer Success