Patients and care teams

Clinical Coordinator records the patient number, display name, birth date, contact phone, consent status, and assigned clinician. Those details give each encounter a stable patient reference. When someone calls about a visit, the coordinator can find the same patient that the clinician will see in their assigned panel. Agree how a patient number is assigned and how duplicate names are checked before staff begin entry.

A patient can have more than one encounter over time. The encounter belongs to the patient; it is not a replacement for the patient record. The assigned clinician on the patient provides a useful care relationship, while each encounter also records its clinician. If a different clinician handles a visit, the team can keep the encounter accurate without silently rewriting the patient’s ongoing assignment.

• Patient identity. Clinical Coordinator owns the patient record used by care, consent, and payment work.
• People. Clinical Governance Administrator maintains staff and clinician records linked to user accounts.
• Care-team access. Clinical Governance Administrator records which clinician has an active patient assignment, its purpose, and effective dates.

Decide who checks patient numbers, which contact details staff may use, and when an assigned clinician changes. A patient marked Withdrawn for consent needs a deliberate review of the applicable consent record before a new purpose is treated as signed. Staff should distinguish a patient’s overall consent status from a signed consent for a particular purpose and version.

A person can have a role title and a user account. Clinical Governance Administrator should confirm that the correct person is linked to the correct user before assigning access or verifying privileges. Care-team assignments carry a patient, clinician, purpose, dates, and Active or Ended status. Agree who ends an assignment when care moves to another clinician and how an expiring assignment is checked.

Take a returning patient with an existing patient number and an active assigned clinician. Clinical Coordinator finds the patient and schedules a new visit. Clinical Governance Administrator checks that the clinician’s care-team assignment is Active for the relevant purpose and date. If another clinician takes the visit, record that person on the encounter and review whether the ongoing patient assignment should change. The team should be able to identify who is responsible for the new visit without confusing that visit with the patient’s longer care relationship.

Now take two patients with similar display names. The team should use the patient number and other permitted identity details before adding an encounter or payment. A receipt belongs to the selected patient even when it does not have an encounter reference. Rehearse that selection with the people who will actually enter records.

• My Patient Panel — Find patients assigned to the current clinician and check their consent status.
• Active Care Team Assignments — Review current patient and clinician access by purpose and effective date.
• Encounter Schedule — Confirm the patient and clinician selected for the next visit.

See encounter intake and consent and privilege review.