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We’re introducing a new route under the ‘Admin’ section of the form – specifically designed for patients who need to book routine reviews, blood tests, smears, or other follow-up care that doesn’t involve new symptoms. This route can remain open even if the medical form is temporarily closed or at capacity. It will include clear guidance on:

The types of requests this form should be used for
What not to submit through this route (e.g. new or worsening symptoms)

What do patients submit?

When patients arrive on your Patient Triage landing page, they are given the following options 👇

Note: The badge that says when the form is available is taken from your practice's Patient Triage settings.

Patients will be asked who the request is for 👇

Patients must declare that they have no ‘red flag’ medical symptoms before they can continue. There are separate emergency warning signs for Adults and Children. 👇

Admin or routine care requests

For admin or routine care requests, patients are asked to select a type 👇
Patients are then asked a different set of questions depending on which admin query is selected...

Repeat prescriptions:

Fit (sick) note:

Routine Care:

The options for the routine appointment are 👇

Annual learning disability health check
NHS Health Check (aged 40-74)
Cervical screening (smear test)
Long-term condition review (e.g. COPD, asthma, diabetes)
Medication review (including HRT and contraceptive pill checks)
Pre-travel appointment
Monitoring blood tests (e.g. long-term conditions and medication)
Smoking cessation support
Vaccinations (e.g. childhood, shingles or flu)
6-week postnatal check

Test results:

Questions about a referral (update/status):

Doctor's Letter:

Other admin request:

(All text boxes for both Medical and Admin queries have a character limit of 500, including spaces. They can upload a maximum of 5 images when prompted.)

Health problem queries

For health problem queries, patients are prompted to fill out the following information about their health problem:

Patients can attach up to 5 photos (Optional)
- File types supported are .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .gif
  
  Smart Triage Questions
  If your practice has Smart Triage Questions switched on, patients describing a health problem may also answer a short set of AI-generated follow-up questions before they submit. Their answers come into your inbox alongside the rest of the request. Find out more about Smart Triage Questions.

Patient details

After filling in the health problem or admin and/or routine care request questions, patients are asked to submit their details 👇

(Note: patients can also submit a request on behalf of someone else. See how this works here.)

On the Communication preferences page, patients are asked about any communication needs and how they’d prefer to be contacted ☎️

Communication needs (optional): for example, times they can’t answer the phone, or if they need an interpreter
Preferred contact method: text message, phone call or email

Both health problem and admin requests show these questions.

Patients will be asked if they would like to speak with a particular person 👇

🟡 Please note: We no longer ask patients when they’re available to be contacted. This question has moved to the Communication preferences page, and now asks for times they can’t be contacted. You’ll still see their answer in your inbox with the request.

After their request has been submitted, they see a confirmation message on the screen 👇

(This message can be customised. Find out how to do this here.)

Patients will now see a reference ID on the confirmation page after submitting a Patient Triage request (as shown in the screenshot above).

If the organisation cannot find the request after searching the 'All' and 'Done' tabs in the Inbox, they can contact Accurx Support with the ref ID provided by the patient so we can help to locate this.

How do the patient's selected contact preferences change the default contact method in the inbox?

The default contact method in the inbox is determined by the contact preferences submitted by the proxy/patient in the Patient Triage request 👇

If the proxy selects that they should be contacted, their contact details will be used in the inbox 👇

Defaults can always be overridden when replying to a patient. For example, if the reply defaults to email because the patient specified email as their preferred contact method, you can change this to a phone number when composing the reply if you prefer to send a text message.

Preferred contact method(s) selected in the Patient Triage form	Default contact method used in the inbox
Text message	Text message
Phone call	Text message
Email	Email
Text message & Phone call	Text message
Text message & Email	Text Message
Phone Call & Email	Email
Text message, Phone call and Email	Text Message

If the contact number or email address provided in the 'Preferred Contact Method' section of the Patient Triage form doesn't match the details on the medical record, it will be flagged in the Inbox 👇

Why can’t I see the “best times to contact you” question any more?

The question hasn’t been removed. It has moved to the Communication preferences page and been reworded. Patients now indicate times they can’t be contacted, along with other communication needs, such as needing an interpreter. Their answer appears under Communication needs in the patient’s submitted personal details, so you can still book appointments around their availability.

Why was this question changed?

We changed the question for three reasons:

One place for communication questions. Everything about how and when to contact a patient is now on one page.
More useful information. Practices told us they wanted patients to be able to say if they need an interpreter, and the new question covers this.
More specific answers. Patients often answered “anytime” when asked when they were free, and then weren’t available. Asking when they can’t be contacted gives you clearer times to work around.

Do patients have to answer the communication needs question?

No, the communication needs question is optional, just like the previous availability question. If a patient leaves it blank, their request shows “Not answered” for this question in your inbox.

FAQ's

What is a preferred contact method for Patient Triage?

This is a preferred contact method for follow-up comms and info gathering, for example, if you wanted to send a patient a questionnaire to gather more information. There’s no expectation that consultations would be held via these methods.
We ask patients for their preferred contact method so practices know which method they prefer and are most likely to check and respond to.

Do I have to use a patient’s preferred contact method when replying to them?

No, it is a preferred contact method, but no promises are made to patients. To set expectations with patients, we have a warning that it won't always be possible to use their preferred method.

Can I customise the default reply methods for my workspace?

At the moment, it isn't possible to customise the Inbox default reply behaviour. If this is something you would find valuable, please submit this via our feature request/feedback form here. 💫

How does email work when contacting patients?

Patients can receive emails via Accurx in the same way they receive text messages. The email will be from a No-reply email address, and they can only respond to the practice if you allow them to (by selecting “Allow reply” or by sending a questionnaire).
If the patient replies, the response will return to the Accurx inbox.

What if the options in the “routine care” drop-down include things we don’t offer/ don't include options we want to offer?

The options in the dropdown list reflect common routine care requests that patients might make, and the list was constructed based on discussions by our clinical team and conversations with practices. We acknowledge that there might be some aspects of care that are not delivered by certain practices, and practices may deliver additional services that are not captured here.

As the form does not book care directly and instead surfaces the request within the inbox, practices can respond as they normally would, for example, if there is no in-house smoking cessation service, you can reply with directions to local or national stop smoking services and resources to support your patients. Practices also have the ability to toggle this form on and off in its entirety to support varied ways of managing routine care at a practice level.

If you feel there are more options that could be offered here, please share your feedback through support@accurx.com or by clicking the green message icon in the bottom right corner of our website or help centre.

If you still have any questions or concerns, feel free to chat with us using the green message bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of this page. 👉

Patient Triage: What information do patients submit?