This article explains how Integrated Neighbourhood Teams can use Accurx Neighbourhoods to coordinate care across different workspaces.
Accurx Neighbourhoods is currently only available to select Integrated Neighbourhood Teams. If you're interested in piloting, please sign up here 👨👩👧👦
🔍 What is Accurx Neighbourhoods?
Accurx Neighbourhoods is built to support Integrated Neighbourhood Teams to collaborate and communicate.
It allows multiple workspaces (e.g., GP practices, community, mental health, and social care teams) to collaborate around a single, shared list of patients. If you're unsure what a workspace is, please see this article for Accurx Web and this article for Accurx Desktop.
Instead of each workspace maintaining its own separate list, one workspace owns the list, and others join as collaborators.
Every member workspace can then see the Shared Patient List and communicate around those patients.
👷 How to set up and access a Neighbourhood Shared Patient List
Neighbourhood Shared Patient Lists are currently configured by the Accurx team rather than being self-serve. If you're interested in piloting, please sign up here.
The Accurx team will create the Neighbourhood Shared Patient List, assign the Owner workspace, and add all requested Collaborator workspaces.
Once configured, approved users within each workspace can access the list:
Accurx Web users: Navigate to the 'Neighbourhoods' section of the 'Lists' tab within Accurx Web.
Accurx Desktop toolbar users: Select the Patient List icon on the toolbar.
🤝 Membership and Roles within a Neighbourhood Shared Patient List
A Neighbourhood Shared Patient List consists of one Owner workspace and one or more Collaborator workspaces.
Access is granted at the workspace level, and not at the user level, meaning all approved users within a member workspace can view the Shared Patient List.
To see which workspaces are part of a Neighbourhood list:
Open the Neighbourhood Shared Patient List.
Select the 'Workspaces' button.
You will see the list of workspaces on the right of the page, including the Owner workspace labelled.
The Owner Workspace
The Owner is the curator of the Shared Patient List. There can only be one Owner workspace for each list, and only users in the Owner workspace can:
Add individual patients.
Bulk upload patients using a CSV file.
Remove individual patients or clear the entire list.
Plus anything that Collaborator workspaces can do.
Collaborator Workspaces
Collaborators are members who use the Shared Patient List to coordinate care. They can:
View the Shared Patient List.
See which other workspaces are members of the Neighbourhood.
Start messages or coordinate care for patients on the list.
Note:
Collaborator workspaces cannot add or remove patients from the Shared Patient List. Only the Owner workspace can add or remove patients.
Only Accurx can manage which workspaces are members of a Neighbourhood; neither Owner nor Collaborator workspaces can add or remove workspaces.
📤 (Owner workspaces only) Adding patients to the Neighbourhood shared patient list
Owners can add patients individually by searching the NHS Personal Demographics Service (PDS) or in bulk via CSV upload.
Adding patients individually
Adding patients individually
1. When viewing a patient list, select the 'Add patient' option.
2. Search for the patient using their NHS number and date of birth. This search is verified against the NHS Personal Demographics Service.
3. Select the patient from the results to add them to the patient list.
Bulk uploading via a CSV file
Bulk uploading via a CSV file
1. When viewing a patient list, select the arrow icon, followed by the 'Upload file' option.
2. You'll be prompted to upload a CSV file containing the patient details.
To ensure a successful upload, your file must meet these strict criteria:
Column Order: If the first two columns are not the two listed below, the whole file will be rejected.
First column must be NHS number
Second column must be Date of birth.
Validation: Every row must have a valid NHS number and a date of birth (formats: DD/MM/YYYY, D/M/YYYY, or YYYY-MM-DD).
Duplicates: No duplicate NHS numbers within a single upload.
File Format: Must be a .csv file and under 3 MB.
Maximum Bulk Upload: 1,000 patients per bulk upload. If your cohort is larger, you should split your CSV into multiple files.
If not all criteria are met, you will see an error message asking you to fix the specific rows and try uploading again.
After an upload, you'll see a summary of how many patients were added, and which were not added (with the reason).
Every patient is verified against the NHS PDS. Patients who can't be verified are not added, and you'll be shown why (e.g. patient not found on PDS, or patient is deceased). Only successfully verified patients appear on the list (with their name and demographics pulled from PDS).
Bulk uploading via manual entry
Bulk uploading via manual entry
1. When viewing a patient list, select the arrow icon, followed by the 'Add patients manually' option.
2. Input the patient details: One patient per line, listing NHS number and date of birth.
Every row must have a valid NHS number and a date of birth (formats: DD/MM/YYYY, D/M/YYYY, or YYYY-MM-DD).
This search is verified against the NHS Personal Demographics Service.
📩 How to message a patient within the Shared Patient List
1. On the Shared Patient List, select the three dots next to the intended patient, followed by 'Message patient'.
2. Compose the message, as you would a standard Accurx message (you can use templates, questionnaires, allow a reply, and include attachments).
3. Hit 'Send' to send the message straight away, or select the arrow button to schedule the message for another time.
Note: If you're using the Accurx Desktop toolbar and the patient is registered within your clinical system, there will also be an option to save the message to the patient records.
🧑🧑🧒🧒 How to message other workspaces within the Neighbourhood
1. On the Shared Patient List, select the three dots next to the intended patient, followed by 'Message professionals'.
2. Select the participants of the conversation by clicking on the 'To' field. All workspaces within the Neighbourhood will appear here.
You will also see the patient's GP workspace labelled.
3. Compose the message, and select a folder in the inbox for the responses to come back into (by default, the responses will be assigned to come back to the sender).
Note: If you're using the Accurx Desktop toolbar and the patient is registered within your clinical system, there will also be an option to save the message to the patient records.
4. The recipients will receive the message as a 'Professional' conversation within a dedicated team inbox which will have the same name as the Shared Patient List, and will be able to reply to the conversation as needed.
🔎 Viewing conversations from the Shared Patient List
1. On the Shared Patient List, select 'View conversations' for the intended patient
2. The Accurx inbox will open, filtered to a view for:
Professional conversations just for this patient
'Message neighbourhood' button to send a 'Message professionals' message to other workspaces within the Neighbourhood Shared Patient List.
'Sent' tab to show all outbound conversations.
🧠 Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Collaborator workspace add a patient to the Shared Patient List if the Owner workspace is unavailable?
Can a Collaborator workspace add a patient to the Shared Patient List if the Owner workspace is unavailable?
No, only the Owner workspace has the permissions to modify the Shared Patient List. If the list needs updating, a user from the Owner workspace must perform the action.
How many patients can an Owner workspace bulk upload at once?
How many patients can an Owner workspace bulk upload at once?
There is a limit of 1,000 patients per bulk upload. If your cohort is larger, you should split your CSV into multiple files.
How are workspaces added to a Neighbourhood Shared Patient List?
How are workspaces added to a Neighbourhood Shared Patient List?
Only Accurx can manage which workspaces are members of a Neighbourhood; member workspaces cannot add or remove workspaces.
To add/remove a workspace from a Neighbourhood, please reach out to our support team.
If you have any further questions or feedback, please get in touch with our support team using the message bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of this page 👉