Consent and privileges

A consent record belongs to a patient and states a purpose and version. It can hold the signed date, expiry and document. Its status distinguishes pending, signed, withdrawn and expired records. The patient also has a consent status, which gives the team a concise current indicator. The coordinator and clinician can check the purpose-specific record when planning care.

A clinical privilege belongs to a clinician. It records the privilege type, license number, issuing authority, verification evidence and effective dates. The Clinical Governance Administrator maintains this record and its status. The Clinical Reviewer can read the evidence when reviewing care. A person may have more than one privilege type, so the team should check the relevant type and period rather than treating a single verification as universal.

• Patient permission. Consents keeps the purpose, version, document and signed or withdrawn state with the patient.
• Professional verification. clinical privileges records the clinician’s authority and supporting evidence for a specified privilege type.
• Care-team period. care team assignments records the patient’s clinician, access purpose and effective period.

Define the purpose wording and version convention for consents. Decide who enters a signed document and who updates the patient-level consent status after a change. For privileges, decide who checks the issuing authority and evidence before marking a record verified. Review effective and expiry dates as part of that decision. A suspended or expired privilege should prompt a reassessment of the relevant assignment.

Do not use the clinician’s job title as a substitute for the privilege record. The role title identifies the person, while the privilege states the specific authority being tracked. The assignment then identifies the patient and purpose of that person’s access.

For a scheduled patient visit, open the consent for the relevant purpose and confirm its signed date and expiry. Check the assigned clinician’s privilege type, verification status and effective period. Then inspect the care-team assignment for the patient. The coordinator and governance administrator can resolve a mismatch before the visit is treated as ready.

A consent can have a signed document while its current status later becomes withdrawn or expired. Read the current status and dates together. The same principle applies to a clinician privilege whose verification evidence remains attached after its effective period ends. These historical records remain useful to the reviewer.

• Pending Consents — Patient consent records still awaiting a signed outcome.
• Pending Privileges — Clinician verification records requiring governance review.
• Care Team Assignments — Current purpose and date range for patient access.

Start with patient intake and access and then visit delivery.