Patient intake

The Clinical Coordinator creates the patient record with a patient number, display name, birth date and contact phone. The assigned clinician connects the patient to a responsible person before visits or care tasks are added. For an eye care clinic, this gives the front desk and care team the same patient identity when an appointment moves from intake into clinical work.

Consent is recorded for a stated purpose and version. A signed document and signing date give the clinician a record to inspect at the encounter. The patient record also carries a consent status. The team should agree how a changed or withdrawn consent updates that patient status and which purposes require a fresh signature.

• Patient identity. The coordinator uses the patient number to distinguish people with similar names and keeps the contact phone available for follow-up.
• Consent record. A consent has its own purpose, version, document, signed date, expiry date and status so earlier decisions remain visible.
• Assigned clinician. The patient points to a person, while each encounter separately names the clinician who handles that visit.

Agree a patient numbering practice and who can correct an identity error. Decide which staff member checks contact details before a scheduled visit. Define consent purposes, document versions and expiry policy with the clinical lead. Decide whether the assigned clinician is the default appointment owner or only the continuity owner. Those choices prevent a handoff from relying on an informal note.

The governance administrator maintains the people records that the assignment uses. The coordinator should confirm that the selected person is active before allocating a new patient. The clinical team should also know when a care-team assignment is needed for another clinician to take part in care.

A returning patient calls for an eye examination. The coordinator finds the patient by patient number, checks the phone and assigned clinician, then checks the current consent purpose and status. If the relevant consent is pending, the coordinator collects the appropriate signed document before the visit proceeds under the clinic’s policy. The encounter can then refer to the existing patient record. If another clinician takes the visit, the encounter records that clinician explicitly; the patient assignment need not be silently changed.

After the visit, a follow-up task refers back to the same patient. The person assigned the task can see the due date and status without rebuilding the patient’s history from an appointment description.

• Active patients — Patient identity and clinician assignment for records with active consent status.
• Consent follow-up — Purpose-specific consents that need attention because they are pending, expired or withdrawn.

See the patient visit process and follow-up coordination.