Accreditation practice pointer: our practice manages communications from patients
C1.2 A Our practice manages communications from patients.
RACGP Standards for general practice
Patients and carers need to be able to communicate with their general practice when they need to make an appointment or an enquiry. All communication must be managed in a timely and sensitive way.
When patients ring a practice, the practice team must first ask if the matter is an emergency should they need to put the patient on hold. Patients and carers must be asked for three of the following approved patient identifiers when seeking information, like test results, via the telephone:
Family name and given names
Date of birth
Gender (as identified by the patient)
Address
Patient health record number, where it exists
Individual Healthcare Identifier.
General practice must be aware that a Medicare number is not an approved identifier. This is because Medicare numbers and some Australian residents and visitors may not have a Medicare number.
Patient health records must include notes of when team members have attempted to contact (e.g. left a phone message) or successfully contacted the patient. Likewise, patient health records must also include notes on when a patient contacts the practice, the reason for the contact, and the advice and information the patient was given.
Practices might also:
have a policy, procedure or flow chart that shows how to manage messages from patients
maintain a communication policy to manage and triage incoming communication during a crisis, emergency or disaster
demonstrate how your patients receive open, timely and appropriate communication about their health care during a crisis, emergency or disaster
document what information and advice the practice team can and cannot give to patients over the phone or electronically
educate reception staff about which messages need to be transferred to the clinical team
have an appointment system that includes time for the clinical team to respond to patient messages
have an automatic email response (if your email system allows it) that includes the practice’s telephone number and when the sender can expect to receive a reply
establish a process so that patients are advised of the practice’s policy for checking responding to, and sending emails
establish a back-up plan for when communication failure occurs (e.g. an alternative mode of communication if a telehealth appointment does not connect).