Overview

When submitting requests, you can choose whether patients:

• Are blocked from using Patchs for dependents under the age of 16
• Can request medication
• Receive request completion emails
• Are asked about their preferred contact method when you respond to their request

And 

• If questionnaire answers are saved to the clinical system when a message is completed
• What happens when a patient is not marked as registered in your practice?

These options can be enabled or disabled by a Patchs Admin user by going to the Edit practice page and selecting the Feature settings tab.

Block dependents under the age of 16

By default, carers/parents are able to register and make requests on behalf of dependents of any age, but you can choose to block dependents under the age of 16 using the request setting.

If you blocking dependents under the age of 16 at your practice will

Stop a registered patient from adding 'someone they care for' who is under 16 years old.

On the dependent's personal details page, the patient carer will be advised  that the practice does not accept requests from patients under the age of 16 and to contact the practice directly instead.

Stop a carer user from adding 'someone they care for' who is under 16 years old

On the personal details page, the carer user will be advised  that the practice does not accept requests from patients under the age of 16 and to contact the practice directly instead.

Stop requests from previously registered dependents who are under 16.

On the How can we help you? page, the carer will be advised  that the practice does not accept requests from patients under the age of 16 and to contact the practice directly instead.

Medication requests

You may want patients to request medication via another system, rather than through Patchs. If that's the case, you have the option to disable the medication request option.

When medication requests are enabled at your practice, patients will see the Medication request type:

When medication requests are disabled at your practice, patients won't see the Medication request type:

Patient request completion emails

By default, patients receive emails when you complete their request. You may not want this to happen, for example if you work in an eHub where the patient requests may get passed onto another GP practice. If that's the case you can disable sending patients completion emails.

Preferred contact method question

You may not want patients to be able to request which way they want to be contacted about their request - if, for example, you have staff shortages and cannot accommodate in-person consultations. If that's the case, you can disable the preferred contact method question.

When the preferred contact method question is enabled at your practice, patients are asked the following question each time they submit a request: 

When the preferred contact method question is disabled at your practice, patients won't be asked this question.

Save questionnaire answers to clinical system when message is completed

If  'Save questionnaire answers to clinical system when message is completed’  enabled, then questionnaire answers will be saved to the clinical system when you Complete message & save to clinical system.

What happens when a patient is not marked as registered in your practice?

Patients who are not marked as registered by the practice and attempt to submit requests will now receive an immediate notification about their registration status.

The message directs them to contact the practice by telephone and provides information on how to access NHS 111 and handle medical emergencies.