🔔 If you don't currently have access to Patient Triage, click here to find out more and sign up for a free trial! 👨⚕️🚑
🔔 If you already use Patient Triage, why not learn more about Total Triage, a General Practice workflow in which patients provide information before being offered an appointment? 👩⚕️💫
Patient safety is our top priority.
Before launching Patient Triage, we ask that you read our template DPIA to highlight any risks your practice needs to be aware of. (As the data controller, when using Accurx, it is your responsibility to complete a DPIA, but we have completed some of this for you).
Here are some key things to be aware of when using Patient Triage. Please ensure that you have put in place a practice protocol for how to approach these considerations before launching Patient Triage on your website.
Patients might submit urgent medical issues.
Patients might submit urgent medical issues.
Although there is a risk that patients may add information inappropriate to the request type or urgency in any free-text box, we know that free-text boxes are extremely valuable for allowing patients to articulate themselves and for healthcare professionals to have the information necessary to deliver care.
Across the product, we have mitigations in place to reduce the risk of patients entering inappropriate information in free-text boxes, including:
A warning box on the form landing page that the practice can customise to articulate turnaround times, processes, and to set expectations, with a permanent message underneath on what to do if more urgent help is required.
A warning page at the start of each form that directs a patient to A&E or 999 if they have an emergency
Clear delineation on each form as to what it should be used for
An additional warning on all admin forms that they are not to be used for new or ongoing symptoms, with a link back to the landing page where they can see what options for medical help are available:
Patients might submit inappropriate photos.
Patients might submit inappropriate photos.
Patients can attach photos to medical requests to assist with diagnosis and monitoring.
What advice do patients get?
Submitting a photo is entirely optional for the patient, and implied consent is obtained when they choose to do so. Before uploading, patients must tick a box confirming they understand:
Photos should not include intimate areas of the body (e.g. bottom, breasts, or genitals).
Photos may be seen by staff of all genders.
Photos and files may be saved to your medical record.
This is the page patients will see 👇
How does a practice process the photo?
Photos arrive in the Accurx inbox attached to the Patient Triage request. Click the link to view the photo in your browser. When saving to the record, ensure 'Include attachments' is ticked to save the image and the text, or unticked to save only the text. 👇
Despite advising patients not to submit sensitive images, patients may still do so. We recommend that practices have their own processes in place to deal with intimate images, in particular those of children.
Practices can control when patients can submit requests by using the opening hours, daily limits, and Temporary Suspend functionality.
Practices can control when patients can submit requests by using the opening hours, daily limits, and Temporary Suspend functionality.
Anyone can submit a request
Anyone can submit a request
As we have made Patient Triage easy for patients to access (no need for an app or an account), anyone can submit a request.
If a patient has not passed verification of their identity, this will be displayed as 'Patient not found', and the responsibility is on the practice to confirm the patient’s identity. Be aware of the possibility of a fake request. For more info on how we verify patient identity, please click here.
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. 👉