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Understanding NHS Wales patient referral codes 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Understanding NHS Wales patient referral codes 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

πŸ₯ NHS WA only - The Welsh Government has introduced patient referral codes via Dental Access Portal (DAP).

Amber Morris avatar
Written by Amber Morris
Updated today

πŸ’‘ Top tip: Find out more about the NHSBSA guidance on their website here.

NHS Wales Referral Options

DAP new patient

  • What: Patients register via the DAP and are triaged by Welsh health boards to dental practices.

  • When to use: Only on the first course of treatment after the patient has been referred via DAP. Do not use for subsequent treatments.

  • Action required: Select 'DAP New Patient' on the Welsh NHS claim submission screen when initiating the patient's first course of treatment and select the appropriate referral type.

New urgent patient

  • Use for: Patients referred urgently from Health Boards or NHS 111.

  • Action required: Select 'Referred for Urgent treatment' on the Welsh NHS claim submission screen when starting treatment.

πŸ’‘ Top tip: Referral options must ONLY be selected at the start of a new NHS course of treatment, and should not be used when submitting claims for any subsequent claims.

Urgent patient failed to attend (FTA)

  • Use for: Patients referred urgently who fail to attend their appointment.

  • Action required: Chart the specific treatment 9187 - 'Referred Urgent Patient - Did not attend' in Dentally. Once charted 'Referred for urgent treatment' will be selected automatically on the claim submission screen.

🚨 Important: This claim must not include other treatment bands or exemption details. This allows submission without completed treatment and supports accurate Health Board funding allocation.


Things to note

Dentally's Welsh NHS claim submission interface reflects these referral methods clearly. You will see explicit options to select the appropriate patient referral category when submitting NHS claims.

  • Select 'DAP New Patient' or 'Referred for Urgent treatment' on the NHS claim screen.

  • These two options are the same as submitting the codes '9185' and '9186' respectively on your treatment.

  • If charting a DNA/FTA scenario, Dentally automatically ensures no additional treatment details are submitted.

πŸ“ Please note: Missing NHS numbers won't cause claim validation to fail but will generate a comment.

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