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EMMA is Not Answering Calls or is Routing to the Old IVR After Go-Live

Purpose of Document

This article exists because call routing failures are one of the most frequent and urgent tickets raised by practices in the days following EMMA go-live. Staff must be able to diagnose the issue quickly, provide reassurance, and escalate correctly if needed.

Background: How EMMA Answers Calls

When a practice goes live with EMMA, their phone number is ported to QuantumLoop AI's infrastructure. Incoming calls route through EMMA first. EMMA handles the call, gathers the patient's request, and either completes a form submission or transfers the call to reception.

If EMMA is unavailable or toggled off, calls automatically revert to the practice's existing telephony provider. This is by design. There is no manual intervention required for this fallback to occur.

During the bedding-in period, EMMA is intentionally toggled on and off by the QuantumLoop team. This is normal and expected.

Common Causes and What to Check

1. EMMA is in the bedding-in period and has been toggled off

During bedding-in, EMMA is deliberately activated and deactivated throughout the day. The practice may experience calls routing to their old IVR or reception during windows when EMMA is off. This is expected behaviour.

During bedding-in:

  • EMMA is active in short, controlled windows, typically in the afternoon between 12:00 and 18:00
  • Mornings are used for adjustments and review
  • Only a small proportion of calls are routed to EMMA initially
  • Remaining calls continue to reception as normal
  • The QuantumLoop team monitors and makes real-time adjustments throughout

What to do:

  • Confirm with the practice that they are still in the bedding-in phase
  • Check the deployment status with the internal team
  • Reassure the practice that this is normal and part of the controlled rollout
  • Do not treat this as a fault unless EMMA is supposed to be in full-time operation

2. Number porting is not yet complete

If porting has not fully completed, calls will continue routing to the old telephony provider and EMMA will not receive them.

What to do:

  • Check the porting status in the VoIP Limited portal or with the porting team
  • Do not advise the practice that EMMA is live until porting is confirmed complete
  • If porting is delayed, use the Internal Porting Issue Escalation email template and notify the porting team immediately

3. EMMA has been toggled off via the dashboard

An admin user at the practice may have toggled EMMA off via the dashboard settings. Alternatively, the QuantumLoop team may have disabled it during a review or adjustment.

What to do:

  • Check the dashboard settings for that surgery
  • Confirm whether EMMA is enabled or disabled in the EMMA settings section
  • If it should be on, re-enable it and confirm with the practice

4. Admin or routine forms are switched off, causing EMMA to disable herself

If the practice's public-facing admin or routine consultation forms are switched off, EMMA automatically disables herself as a fail-safe. This can cause calls to route back to the surgery unexpectedly and the practice may interpret this as a routing fault.

What to do:

  • Ask the practice to visit their own website as a patient would and check whether the online forms are open
  • If forms are closed, advise the practice to re-enable them
  • Once forms are confirmed back on, contact the support team to re-enable EMMA. EMMA will not re-enable automatically during the same day
  • Remind the practice that admin and routine forms must remain open at all times

5. The IVR welcome message or button routing is misconfigured

As of March 2026, IVR welcome messages and button key assignments are configurable per phone number via a centralised settings configuration. For example, press 1 for EMMA, press 2 for reception. A misconfiguration here can cause callers to bypass EMMA entirely.

What to do:

  • Check the surgery's IVR configuration in the settings
  • Confirm the button routing is set correctly for that surgery's number
  • Contact the engineering team if a configuration change is needed

6. A system issue or EMMA platform degradation

Occasionally, EMMA performance may be degraded. An alert will be visible to admins on the dashboard settings page.

What to do:

  • Check the dashboard for any degraded performance alerts
  • Check internal Slack or monitoring channels for active incidents
  • If an incident is live, follow the incident response process and update the practice

Step-by-Step Triage Process

  1. Ask the practice to describe the issue precisely. Is EMMA not picking up at all? Or is it routing to the old IVR after a short interaction?
  2. Confirm whether the practice is currently in bedding-in or full live operation.
  3. Check the dashboard to confirm EMMA is toggled on for that surgery.
  4. Check the porting status if the practice is newly onboarded.
  5. Ask the practice to check whether their public-facing consultation forms are open and accepting submissions.
  6. Check the IVR routing configuration for that phone number.
  7. Check internal monitoring channels for any active incidents.
  8. If no clear cause is found, escalate to engineering with the surgery name, ODS code, phone number, and a description of the issue.

What to Tell the Practice

Keep communication calm and reassuring. Example wording:

"We are looking into this now and will update you shortly. In the meantime, your existing phone system will continue handling any calls that bypass EMMA, so there is no risk to patient access."

Do not speculate about the cause until you have investigated.

Common Mistakes

  • Telling a practice EMMA is live when porting is not yet confirmed complete
  • Treating normal bedding-in toggling as a fault
  • Escalating to engineering before checking the dashboard toggle, porting status, and form availability
  • Advising a practice to change anything on their own telephony system without confirming with the porting team first
  • Assuming the internal consultation tool being open means public-facing forms are also open

Escalation Guidance

Escalate to engineering if:

  • The dashboard shows EMMA is on but calls are still not routing to EMMA
  • Porting is confirmed complete but EMMA is not receiving calls
  • A degraded performance alert is visible on the dashboard and is not resolving
  • The issue affects multiple practices at the same time
  • Forms are confirmed open but EMMA is still not operating

When escalating, always include:

  • Surgery name and ODS code
  • Phone number affected
  • Date and time the issue was first reported
  • Description of what the caller experiences
  • Screenshot of dashboard settings if relevant
  • Whether porting, forms, and dashboard toggle have all been checked

Related Articles

  • EMMA is Collecting Enquiries But Not Submitting Forms to the Dashboard
  • EMMA Onboarding: End-to-End Process Overview
  • How to Set EMMA to Go Offline During Protected Learning Time or Staff Training
  • What the Bedding-In Period Is and What to Expect During the First Week
  • How to Configure a Temporary Phone Line Closure on the Dashboard
  • How EMMA Handles Calls When the Admin or Routine Form is Switched Off

Last Reviewed: May 2026 Owner: Support and Customer Success