Assigning a Request
From the assign screen the following options are available:
1. Search bar
If you have a large clinical team and don't wish to scroll through to locate the clinician you want to assign to, you can use the search bar to search for a particular user (or group) by name and assign the request to them.
Note: You can also search for clinicians who are not currently working, but are able to have requests assigned to them and they will appear in grey and marked as 'away'
2. Show all clinicians
The default list will only show clinicians who are currently available (i.e they are scheduled to be working right now in their weekly rota) if you wish to see a list of all clinicians, including those who are not available at this moment in time, you can tick this box and the rest will appear and will again be marked as 'away' until they are working.
3. List of assignable users
This is the list of all users who are currently available to have requests assigned to them, in order for them to appear, they must be in a group which has 'Members individually can have requests and show in dashboard' set to 'yes'. A star next to their name indicates that the patient has requested them specifically. The list will expand to include other assignable users who are not currently available when the 'show all clinicians' box is ticked. For each clinician the sorter can see the following:
Capacity - The number of requests which can be assigned to the user today, based on the capacity set in their weekly rota
Assigned (now) - The number of requests currently assigned to the user, including requests from any day
Assigned so far today - The total number of requests which came in today and have been assigned to the user
Completed - The number of requests assigned to that user which have been completed by them today
4. Skip button
If you wish to skip assigning, you can use this button to skip straight to the message reply screen. You can at any point return to the assign screen to assign, or re-assign the request to a user by clicking the word 'unassigned' or the currently assigned user's name towards the bottom of the screen, as shown near the number '7' on the image in the section below.
Managing the Request
From the requests screen, the following options are available:
1. Copy DOB
If you want to copy the DOB to double-check the patient's identity in your clinical system you can do so. One click will copy the element.
2. Copying NHS/CHI No.
If the patient has been verified there will be an NHS/CHI number entered here.
You can copy just the NHS/CHI number to the clipboard with one click and then paste it into your clinical system to quickly find a patient in your clinical system.
3. Edit Patient Details
If the patient has typed in the wrong email address or phone number, you can edit this here.
Note: the request you are currently viewing will now remain open as you edit the patient's record, once you've finished editing the record, you can click either 'Update' or 'Cancel' to go back to the request.
4. Patient ID Status
It is very important that you know you are communicating with the correct patient, particularly if you are using the secure messaging option. The drop-down arrow gives you 3 options: 'Claimed' = no check. This is who the patient claims to be. 'Identified' = You, or the Sorter, knows who they are. 'Verified' = Someone has verified them in your clinical system and input their NHS number into their askmyGP record. We advise that you aim for Verified status for all. You will only have to do it once.
5. Previous Requests
Click here to load all previous requests made via askmyGP by this patient.
6. Secure Messaging
Click on this tab and write your message in the box below and then click 'Send/Assign' and it will send a message to the patient's email address. They will need to enter their Username and Password to read the message. They will only be able to reply if you have left this channel open - see 'Await Reply' below. Messages can be edited or deleted.
7. Internal Note
If you want to add a note to this record that won't be sent to the patient, click on the 'Internal Note' tab, (the box will turn a cream colour), write your note and click on the 'Send/Assign' button. Notes can be edited or deleted.
8. Flag the Level of Urgency
Click on a flag to show the level of urgency of the request.
The system will reorganise the requests in order with Emergency being the highest, as shown, and set a coloured bar on the left of the request to make it easy for the clinician to see the level of need.
9. Assign the Request
If you wish to assign (if not yet assigned) or reassign a request, click here to bring up the assign screen.
10. Video Call
If you want the consultation via video, contact the patient first to check if they are available and then click on the Video Call button. This will send a secure link to their email inbox which they access by inputting their UserName and Password and then clicking on the Video button when you will be connected.
For more details, see the separate guide on Video Consultations.
11. Forms
If you wish to send a form for completion to the patient, you can select this icon to choose the form you wish to send (for more information on Forms click here)
12. Preset Messages
You can create your own Library of set messages to simply copy and paste to speed up the messaging process. Click on this icon to access. After clicking the icon, when choosing a preset message, you can use the search bar at the top of the Preset message screen to search the 'Title' or 'Content' of a preset message to find the one you are looking for:
For more information on setting up Preset Messages, click here
13. Attachment
Clicking this button allows you to an add an attachment to your message. For more details, click here
14. Leaving the Message Channel Open
If you want the patient to send back a message to you, you can leave the channel open for a period set by yourself. Click on the 'Await Reply' button then choose the number of days in 'Set waiting days'. Choose whether or not you wish for the patient to be notified, and what you want to happen if there is no reply by clicking on the appropriate button and click OK. Click HERE for more information on 'Await reply'
15. Completing the Request
When the consultation is complete, click on this button to close the request (if you have been messaging the patient they will receive an email to tell them the consultation has ended) and copy and paste the notes into your Clinical system. (Note any emojis within the patient's request or messages will not be copied over to their records)
See our walkthrough guide here.
16. Sending a message
When you have entered some text in the message box and wish to send this as either a message to patient, or internal note visible to other staff users with access to the request, you can click the green 'Send' button to send the message