Please note the following feature is in pilot, and your GP practice will be notified when it is due to be rolled out to you.
Set up a group of partner practices so you can refer requests to each other and see their reports in one place.
A referral group is a named set of practices that work together. Practices that are full members of a group can refer requests to one another. Practices that join as reporting only are included in the group's reports but do not send or receive referrals.
This article explains how to create a group, invite practices, accept an invitation, add managers and choose an out-of-hours partner.
Before You Start
Only a Practice group manager can see and use the Referral Groups page. If you are not a Practice group manager, you see a permission denied message. If your practice has been invited to join a group, the page is also available so you can answer the invitation.
This feature is switched on by Patchs. To ask about using it at your practice, please contact your Account Manager or OneAdvanced Support.
Full membership lets your practice and the other full members refer patient requests to each other. Before you join as a full member, make sure all of the practices have a Data Sharing Agreement in place.
How to Set Up a Referral Group
1. Open Referral Groups
Click your name at the top right of Patchs, then choose Referral Groups.
The page opens on the Manage group tab. Use Select group to switch between groups if your practice belongs to more than one. The page shows:
- Members: the practices in the group. Your own practice is marked Your practice.
- Practice group managers: the staff who can invite practices, manage other managers and set the out-of-hours partner.
- Out of hours partner: the practice that receives overflow requests when your practice is full.
The Member reports and Group reports tabs are covered in Using the Group Reports Portal.
2. Create a group
Click + Create new group, type a Group name that your team will recognise, and click Create group. You can invite practices once the group has been created.
3. Invite a practice
Click Invite practice. Search for the practice by name or ODS code, then choose a Membership type:
- Full member: can send and receive cross-practice referrals and is included in group reports.
- Reporting only: included in group reports but cannot send or receive referrals.
Click Invite practice to send the invitation. You can click Cancel to close the window without inviting anyone.
4. Add a Practice group manager
Click Add manager, choose the Staff member and click Add manager again. Practice group managers can invite and remove practices, add and remove other managers, and set the out-of-hours partner.
5. Choose an out-of-hours partner
If your practice reaches its request limit, you can send new patient requests to a partner practice instead of turning patients away. Click Set partner, choose the Partner practice and the inbox the requests should go to, then click Save partner.
Once a partner is set, you can use Deactivate and Activate to switch it off and on, or click Change to choose a different partner. The partner must be a member of the group, and you can have one active out-of-hours partner at a time.
Accepting an Invitation to Join a Group
If another practice invites yours, a Pending group invitations list appears on the Referral Groups page. Each invitation shows the group name, the practice that invited you, and whether it is for Full member or Reporting only membership.
- Click Accept, or Decline if you do not want to join.
- If the invitation is for full membership, tick I confirm the Data Sharing Agreement has been reviewed and agreed. Full membership enables referrals between your practice and all of the other full members, so both practices need a valid Data Sharing Agreement.
- Click Confirm.
A reporting-only invitation does not need the Data Sharing Agreement tick. It only includes your practice in the group's reports.
What Patients See When Your Practice Is Full
When your practice has reached its request limit and an out-of-hours partner is active, patients see a message above the form that reads: "Your practice is not currently accepting requests. Your request will be referred to the partner practice." The request is then sent to the inbox you chose at the partner practice.
Best Practice Guidance
- Agree the partners, the inbox and the opening arrangements with the other practices before you invite them.
- Check that your Data Sharing Agreement covers every practice that joins as a full member.
- Choose the Reporting only membership type for practices that need to be in reports but are not ready to receive referrals.
- Make sure more than one person is a Practice group manager, so the group can still be managed when someone is away.
- Make sure the partner practice knows which inbox overflow requests will arrive in, and that someone checks it.
- Test the set-up with a dummy patient before you rely on it.