When using Accurx Desktop to send a message to a patient, you’ll see the patient’s preferences about how they want to be contacted by email or SMS. This information is shown beside the patient’s contact details in the Message tab.
This information is fetched from the patient’s record in EMIS/SystmOne. These systems allow your organisation to record whether a patient has consented or objected to being contacted by SMS or email.
What are the different consent indicators?
There are two types of consent indicators that show a green tick:
Consent ✅: means that the patient has explicitly opted in to receiving texts/emails
Okay to contact ✅: means that the patient hasn’t objected to receiving texts/emails
The consent information that we show on the Accurx desktop is designed to help you meet NHS guidance on email and SMS communications. It recommends healthcare providers:
“rely on implied consent for confidentiality purposes when contacting individual patients and service users about their individual care”, and
“respect patients’ objections/preferences to receiving communications in this way”.
What will I see if the patient doesn’t want to receive messages by SMS or email?
No Consent ❌: means that a patient has opted out of receiving messages by SMS or email
Mixed Consent ⚠: means that a patient has multiple consent codes on their record
Consent unknown ⚠: means that Accurx is unable to retrieve information about a patient’s consent.
The patient may have specified what types of messages they do or don’t want to receive by SMS or email - if you hover your mouse over the indicator you’ll see the full details of that patient’s preferences, or where to find them.
If consent is unknown, this would indicate that Accurx has been unable to determine if the patient has given a consent preference. We would advise you to check the patient record to confirm if they have expressed dissent to receiving communications this way.