Due Date and Recall Communications

Located on the middle right of the Patient Record is a summary of the patient's last visits.

If the patient has a Spectacle prescription created at an appointment, or a clinical record is completed, then a summary line will be created in this box. It will display the appointment type 'Eye Exam' followed by the date the patient was seen to create this prescription, the date the patient is due for another visit and the recall scheme this patient was put on.

If the patient has a Contact Lens prescription created at an appointment, or a clinical record is completed, then another line will appear in this box. It will display the appointment type 'CL Visit' followed by the date this Contact Lens clinical record or prescription was created, the date the patient is due to be seen again and the recall scheme the patient was put on.

If the patient comes in for an appointment that is neither an Eye Exam nor a Contact Lens Visit, for example a Dry Eye Check, and a clinical record of type 'Other' is created, then this will also be summarised in this box.

When a patient becomes overdue for an appointment, then the due date of that appointment type will be red, as shown in the example above.

Also, when you search for a patient in the Patient Search box, the patient's Next Due date can be seen here. This will also turn red when the patient is overdue for their appointment.

More information about the patient's recall can be viewed on the 'Comms' screen. To access this screen, click on the 'Comms' button at the bottom left of the Patient Record. The number displayed on this button shows the number of recall communications that are active for this patient.

When the Comms screen loads it will look like this.

All of the available Recall Schemes a patient can be assigned to are displayed in the left-hand column. The Recall Schemes the patient has been assigned are highlighted in red at the top of this list.

Preceding the name of the Recall Scheme is an abbreviation of the type of recall the patient is on. These are as follows:

• [ST] is added to the front of the Sight Test or Eye Examination recalls.
• [CL] precedes all the Contact Lens recalls
• [OTH] precedes recalls that are assigned to 'Other' exams such as dry eye.
• [MISC] precedes recalls that are assigned to none of the above schemes.

The patient can only be assigned to one Sight Test, one Contact Lens and one 'Other' recall but they can be assigned to multiple Misc recalls.

The top right-hand box on this page shows the next communication that is due to go out to the patient for each of their assigned Recall Schemes.

Each line shows the following:

• The Recall Scheme Name.
• Sequence number - this is the number of the stage that they are on for their recall reminders - Sequence number 1 would be their first stage and therefore would be the first communication to be generated from the system to remind the patient that they are due for an appointment. Sequence number 2 would be the second stage and therefore the second communication that the system generates to remind the patient that they are due for an appointment and so on.
• Date to Send - this is the date that the communication is due to go out. As this is the send date of the recall rather than the due date of the appointment, it is normal for this date to be slightly different to the due date shown on the front of the patient record.
• Communication Stage - this is the name that the stage has been given in the Maintenance module.

If need be, the stage number and date can be edited by clicking on the 'Edit' button next to the communication you want to edit.

Clicking the 'Edit' button will bring up the following pop-up.

To edit the Stage, you can click the drop-down and select the stage that you would like to change to. To edit the Date To Send, you can click the drop-down and select the date you would like the communication to be sent out.

The main reason to manipulate a send date is after a patient has received their first communication and may want to delay their second reminder due to a holiday or hospital appointment.

The Communications Sent box shows information about the communications that have already been sent to the patient.

 

Stopping Recall Communications

There are two ways to stop i-Clarity from sending recalls to a patient.

The first way is by ticking the 'Stop All Recalls' box on the Patient Record. Whilst this box is ticked, no recalls will be sent out from the sytem. It is worth noting that this tick box is never automatically unticked by the system. So, all future recalls will be stopped until the box is unticked.

You can check at any time which patients have this box ticked by running a Patient report. Go to Reports, Patients, Patients Details and in the Filters section under Patient Recalls, tick the 'Stopped' box and change the drop-down box to 'Yes'. Then run or export the report.

The second way to stop a recall from sending is to remove it from the Communications Pending box on the 'Comms' screen. To do this, just click the Delete button next to the communication you want to stop.

If the Communications Pending box is empty, then there are no recalls to be sent. However, when the patient attends their next appointment and a new recall scheme is assigned to their record, this box will be repopulated and the patient will receive a recall when they are next due.

Stopping Marketing Communications

If you want to stop Marketing communications for a patient, this can be done by ticking 'Stop Marketing' on the Patient Record.

Ticking this box will stop the patient appearing in the Marketing module for all communication types.

However, when the 'Search Patient Database' and 'Ignore Communication Preference' options are selected in Marketing, the patient will receive marketing communications.

Patient Activity

To view Patient Activity, click on the 'Activity' button at the bottom left of the Patient Record.

This will bring up the following screen.

The Patient Activity screen is split into two section. The top section is used to record past and present notes about the patient journey e.g. 'Patient rang to request we order some more drops for them'.

To add a new patient note, click on 'Add Patient Note' at the bottom right of the screen. 

This will load the following pop-up.

You can either type your Patient Note into the text box or use the Voice To Text feature to dictate your note. Once you click 'Ok', the note will be added to the top of the Patient Activity grid with a time and date stamp. Also, the initials of the staff member logged in to the system when the note was added will also be recorded.

You can now add a Spec Order Note or a CL Note by clicking the relevant buttons at the bottom right of the Patient Activity screen.

Patient Actions

In the bottom section of the Patient Activity screen are the Patient Actions. In this section you can record items that need to be done in the future e.g. 'Call patient to follow up on new contact lenses' or any information about the patient that needs to be flagged when they next contact the practice.

To add a new Patient Action, click the 'Add Action' button at the bottom right of the Patient Activity screen. This will bring up the following pop-up.

To create the Patient Action, you can either type the action into the text box or use the Voice to Text button to dictate what you want to say.

Action Date - this is the date you would like the action to be completed and is therefore the date that the action will appear in the Action List. You can select the Action Date by clicking the date drop down and selecting the correct date for the action. If you do not want to set an action date for the action, you can tick the 'Set No Date For This Action' box. If an action has no date, it will not appear in the Action List and it will just pop up whenever a user opens the Patient Record.

Show Reminder - If the 'Show Reminder' box is ticked, then the patient action will pop up whenever a user opens the Patient Record. Removing the tick from this box will stop the patient action from popping up when the Patient Record is accessed.

Action For - This drop-down list allows you to select which user's action list the action appears on. Leaving this as N/A means that the action appears on all users' action lists. When a staff member is selected, the action will only appear on their list. You can also press the person button next to this drop-down to select yourself as the user this action is assigned to. You can also press the eraser button to clear the selected user in this drop-down.

Completed By - This drop-down list allows you to select which user completed the patient action. Again you can click the person button next to it to select yourself and use the the eraser button to clear the selected user.

Once you have completed all the relevent sections, you can then click 'Ok' to add the action.

Examples of using the Patient Action facility:

General Action

A patient action should be added in this way when you want a note to appear on the action list for the particular day and the action can be completed by anyone. For example, 'Please call patient to see how they are getting on with their new contact lens prescription'. Then enter the date you would like the action to be completed and enter detais of the action that needs to be completed.

Depending on the content and importance of the action, tick or untick the reminder box, e.g. if the patient phones before this date, does the staff member talking to the patient need to know this information immediately. If yes, then the reminder box should be ticked.

Personal Action

A patient action should be added in this way when you want a note to appear on your action list for the day. For example, 'Ring patient to follow up on the adjustment I made to their spectacle'. Enter the date you would like the to be completed and the details of the action that needs to be completed.

Depending on the content and importance of the action, tick or untick the reminder box, e.g. if the patient phones before this date, does the staff member talking to the patient need to know this information immediately. If yes, then the reminder box should be ticked.

From the 'Action For' drop-down select your name or click the person button automatically select yourself.

Action for Another Staff Member

An action point should be added in this way when you want a note to appear on another staff member's action list. For example, 'Please read the GP letter that has been scanned into the patient record'. Enter the date you would like the to be completed and the details of the action that needs to be completed.

Depending on the content and importance of the action, tick or untick the reminder box, e.g. if the patient phones before this date, does the staff member talking to the patient need to know this information immediately. If yes, then the reminder box should be ticked.

From the 'Action For' drop-down select the user you would like to assign the action to.

Patient Information Pop-up

A patient action should be added in this way when you want a pop-up to appear on a patient's record every time it is opened but the content of the action does not have an expiry date so does not need to appear on the action list. For example, 'Patient is hard of hearing'.

Tick to remove the action date, enter the information you would like to appear on the pop-up and ensure the 'Reminder' button is ticked.

Viewing Patient Actions

On the top right-hand side of the screen there is a Dashboard button, as shown below. The number next to it shows the amount of Patient Actions Due.

If you click the drop-down arrow next to it, the following menu will show.

If you click 'Actions & Tasks', the following screen will load.

The top half of the screen shows the Practice Tasks that are due and the bottom half shows the Patient Actions of the staff member that is logged in.

Features of the Patient Actions Screen

Changing Which Tasks Are Displayed

You can use the following buttons to change whether the Patient Actions displayed are 'Mine', 'Branch' or 'Company' actions. 

Please note that some of these options may not be available to select depending on your Maintenance Settings.

Refresh and Auto Refresh

You can click the refresh button to check for new actions as shown below.

If you click the drop-down arrow, you can choose whether the Patient Action list automatically refreshes and how often it refreshes.

Search Actions

You can use the search bar shown below to search for a specific Patient Action. The eraser button will erase any text that you type into the search box.

Export Practice Tasks

To make it easier to work on Practice Tasks, you can now click the Export Button to export the list of Practice Tasks.

Include Actions Without Dates

You can tick the 'Include Actions With Dates' button to also show Patient Actions that do not have an action date assigned to them.

Include Future Actions

You can tick the 'Include Future Actions' button to also show Patient Actions for future dates.

Include Unassigned

Ticking the 'Include Unassiged' button will show any Patient Actions that have no been assigned to a staff member.

Include Completed

Ticking the 'Include Complete' button will show any Patient Actions that have been completed.

Add Practice Task

You can click the 'Add Practice Task' button to add a new Practice Task.

Add Patient Action

You can click the 'Add Patient Action' button to add a new action for a patient.

Complete Patient Action

Clicking the Tick button next to a Practice Task or Patient Action will the task or action as complete and also automatically populate a Completed Date in the Completed Column.

Once the Tick button is clicked, the tick will change to an eraser. Clicking the Eraser button will undo marking the task or action as complete.

Edit Practice Task

Clicking the Edit Practice Task button will allow you to make changes to a Practice Task.

When you click this, the following pop-up will appear for you to make changes.

View Patient

Clicking on the View Patient button will allow to view the patient record. This is useful if you need to check anything before you mark the Patient Action as completed.

Other Actions

Clicking the button shown below will bring up a list of other actions for the Patient Task.

These are Edit The Patient Action, View Patient, Add Patient Note, Add Patient Action, Patient Documents, Send Text Message, Appointment Journey and Send Email.

Analysis Codes

On the right-hand side of the Patient Record there is a box that shows the Analysis Codes selected for this patient. Analysis Codes are used as prompts to provide you with key information about the patient or marketing opportunites that the patient may present.

These Analysis Codes are listed in the Marketing module and can be used for targeted marketing communications.

You can add or amend the Analysis Codes selected for a patient by clicking on the Analysis Codes box. This will bring up the following pop-up

To add an Analysis Code you either move it across from Available Analysis Codes to Selected Analysis Codes by double clicking the analysis code you want to select or by single clicking it and then clicking on the 'Select' button.

To remove an Analysis Code you can either double click on it in the Selected Analysis Codes list or single click on it and click the 'Remove' button.

More Features of the Patient Record

On the Patient Record there is an automatically generated date of when the patient's record was created, a CLs Stopped on section, the patient's Global System ID, the FTA Count, their Cancelled Reason and Cancellation Date. These were previously displayed on the Further Details tab but are now displayed on the main patient screen.

CLs Stopped on - this box should be ticked when the patient stops wearing contact lenses. When this box is ticked, the due date for the contact lens prescription is removed and replaced with the word 'Stopped'.

Cancelled Reason - this is the reason that the patient is no longer coming to the practice, for example if they have moved away. When a reason is selected in the drop-down list, the Cancellation Date drop-down will populated with today's date. You can however use this to change the date.

Previous Features

There is also a free text field for NI Number and NHS Number, as well as several drop-down lists for Patient Source, Occupation, College and Ethnicity. Patient Source is the reason the patient registered at the practice e.g. family recommendation. These were also previously displayed in the Further Details tab but are now shown on the main patient screen.

NHS Reasons

You can also view NHS Reasons on the Patient Record. This was previously a drop-down list but it is now box on the right side of the screen that shows all of the possible NHS Reasons.

To select an NHS Reason, simply click on the relevant reason. This will highlight it in yellow as shown above. To unselect an NHS Reason, just click on the reason you want to unselect and it will remove the yellow highlight. Once the Patient Record is saved and refreshed, all selected NHS reasons will appear at the top of the NHS Reasons list.

New Feature

A new feature of the Patient Record is the Primary Language drop-down list. You can use this drop-down to select the patient's primary language. As i-Clarity now has the feature of translating certain parts of the system into the patient's preferred language, this is a particularly helpful tool for patients who first language is not English.

Patient History

Patient Visit History, Spectacle History, Patient Audit History and Document History are accessed by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the patient's name at the top right of the Patient Record.

Extras

Clicking on the 'Extras' button will allow you to navigate to the Patient Portrait, as well as letting you Anonymise Patient, Merge Patient, Transfer Patient, Copy Patient, Delete Patient and Create Sample Merge Files.