Overview
There are occasions where clinical activity takes place without the patient being present, such as discussions with carers, conversations with other healthcare professionals, or cross-team consultations.
Before you begin
To record contacts, you need:
Your security profile must include access to HCP (Healthcare Professional) Diary.
An active patient referral must exist for the relevant client.
Record a patient related contact
Use this method when the contact is about a patient, but the patient does not attend.
Examples include:
Speaking with a carer.
Contacting a GP.
Discussing care with a family member.
Sending patient related correspondence.
To record the contact:
Open your HCP Diary.
Create an appointment linked to the patient and their active referral.
Select the Proxy Contact checkbox.
Choose the appropriate consultation medium.
Record the outcome.
Add a Progress Note where required.
The Proxy Contact option records that the contact relates to the patient, but that the patient was not present during the interaction.
Record a professional discussion within the same team
If you are discussing a patient’s care with another clinician from the same team, record the contact using a shared appointment.
To record the discussion:
Create an appointment against the patient's referral.
Add the second clinician using the Additional HCPs option.
Select Proxy Contact.
Choose the consultation medium that best reflects how the discussion took place.
Record the outcome and any clinical decisions made.
Record cross team clinical involvement
When another team is involved in a patient's care, the method used depends on the level of involvement required.
One off advice or consultation
If another team is providing a single piece of advice or consultation:
Create the appointment against the existing referral.
Add the external clinician using Additional HCPs.
Select Proxy Contact.
Record the appointment outcome.
Ask the clinician providing advice to document their contribution in a Progress Note.
This creates a record of involvement but does not create activity or caseload records for the second team.
Ongoing team involvement
If another team will be providing ongoing support or clinical input, open a referral for that team.
To record ongoing involvement:
Create a referral for the additional team.
Book appointments against that referral.
Select Proxy Contact if the patient is not attending.
Record outcomes and Progress Notes as normal.
This ensures activity is correctly reflected in:
Team caseloads
Activity reporting
Audit records
Service involvement reporting
Understanding Proxy Contact and Additional HCPs
Proxy Contact
Use Proxy Contact when:
The interaction relates to a patient.
The patient was not present.
The contact needs to be recorded against the patient's record.
Additional HCPs
Use Additional HCPs when:
More than one clinician is involved in the contact.
The clinicians are discussing or contributing to patient care.
Adding an Additional HCP records their participation but does not automatically create activity records for their team.