In this article we will cover how to you can setup and join a video consultation through Hero as well as how patients can access the video consultation.

Enable video appointments

Create or edit your appointment

To enable video consultations, you will need to create or amend an existing appointment. Make sure it is set as a "video" for the attendance.

• To create a new appointment type: Settings > Services > Appointment types - then select the "Add appointment" button. Then, as shown in the screenshot above. Make sure the "Attendance" is set to video.

• To edit an existing appointment type: Settings > Services > Appointment types - Then select Options and Edit. Once in the edit menu, ensure that the "Attendance" is set to video.

Invite or offer the appointment to your patients

Once you have set up the appointment, you are now ready to offer or invite this to your patients.

Once a patient has booked the appointment, they will receive an email link to join the consultation 10 minutes before it starts (as shown below).

Join the video consultation via the link provided

Then all that is left to do is join the consultation, links to join can be found in a number of places:

• The Hero diary view - Here you can manually trigger an invitation for the patient and select the video icon to join the call yourself.

• The appointment view on Hero - Here you can manually trigger an invitation for the patient and select the video icon to join the call yourself.

• The slot note within EMIS or SystmOne.

You will now be all set to offer video consultations using Hero Health.

How to join a video consultation as a Hero user

1. Navigate to the Hero 📆 Diary if an appointment is a video consultation it will have video icon next to the patient name.

2. Click on the appointment in the diary to open the appointment details from here you can join the call by clicking the 'Join video call' button in the top right of the page.

3. A new window will open for you to join the call.

4. Then you can click 'Join meeting' to join the video call. You don’t need to be logged in to access the video link

💡 If it is the first time you are join a video call on your computer the video provide will request permission to access your camera and microphone, click Request permissions and follow your browser's instructions

📓 Note: Patient will be sent a link to join the video call automatically 10 minutes prior to the appointment starting.

Convert a face-to-face appointment to a video appointment

1. Open the appointment details either via the 📆 Diary, the 👥 Patients dashboard or 🕓 Appointments list

2. Click on the more options button at the top of the page, indicated by the 3 dots icon

3. Then click on the Send video invitation this will automatically send the invitation the patient and turn the in-person appointment into a video appointment which you can join.

How it works for patients

When a patient books an appointment which has been configured as a video appointment, they will receive a video link invitation 30 minutes prior to their appointment. Patient can click on the video link invitation to join the video appointment.

They will receive an email or text message with a link to join your video consultation. The email will look similar to this (It may come with NHS or practice branding):

To join the video consultation, click the link referenced in the first sentence. This will open your internet browser (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari) on the device you're on - either your computer or phone.

Note: The patient may need to grant permission for the video call service to access your camera and microphone. This will likely appear as a pop-up or button to 'Request permission', from which you can enable permission to access your camera and your microphone.

Once the patient has entered the video consultation room, they can then wait for the clinician to join the call.

System requirements

We recommend using a computer for the best results - both Hero Health and Whereby are most compatible with Google Chrome and Firefox

Troubleshooting

If the patient can't access the link on their computer

You can also access the link on a smartphone. Instruct the patient to open the emailed link sent to them from their smartphone and it should direct the patient to the consultation.

What if patient can't find the video appointment link?

If patient can't find the video appointment link you can send them another one:

1. Open the appointment details via the 📆 Diary or 🕓 Appointments list.

2. Click on the more options button in the top right of the page, indicated by the 3 dots icon

   

3. Click Send video invitation and select which contact detail you want to send the video invitation to.