🚨 Important: This feature is currently in Beta testing, and will be rolled out globally soon.
Where can I view referrals that have been created?
You can view your referrals in the 'Patient referrals' report. There are four different types of referral:
Private in-group referral - Refer to specialists at other practices within the same multi-site or enterprise group. The receiving practice can access the patient record and referral details, in order to support their continuing care.
Private in-house referral - Refer to specialists within your own practice, at the same location as you. Other users at your practice will be able to be able to see this patient's referral details
External referral - Log referrals for external practices (this is just for your records, no one outside your practice will be able to see the patient's referral details)
For UK NHS practices only, create NHS referrals via Rego or FDS integrations.
💡 Top tip: If a referral is generated for a patient, it can be viewed within that patient's chart by finding the treatment plan where it was created, and clicking 'View referral'.
All referrals can be managed and viewed in the 'Patient referrals' report.
Navigate to your reports, and select 'Referrals'.
Here you will see all your practice's referrals, split into 'Incoming' and 'Outgoing'.
Outgoing referrals: This tab displays all referrals created by your practice. For UK NHS practices, NHS referrals will also appear here.
Incoming referrals: This tab shows referrals from within your practice, or referrals received by your practice from other Dentally practices.
Use the search bar to find a specific referral, or filter by type and status.
For all outgoing referrals, the status will stay as 'Sent'.
If you are a multi-site/enterprise group and have sent or received in-group referrals, the status can be changed by the receiving practice.
See the details of any referral by clicking 'View details'.
Click the patient's name to open the chart screen in their patient record, in a new tab.
If your practice can receive incoming referrals:
You will see a red notification over the 'Reports' icon in the left-hand nav bar when you receive a referral. This notification will display the number of referrals marked as 'Received' in your referrals report (ie. referrals which haven't changed to 'Accepted' or 'Rejected' yet).
Ensure you keep the status of incoming referrals updated so the sender can communicate this to the patient.
For in-group referrals, referred patients' records will automatically appear in your database, but may display differently from other patients. See more about how referred patients are displayed here.
In order to receive referrals from other in-group sites, at least one practitioner at your location must have recorded at least one specialism.
💡 Top tip: When booking an appointment for a referred patient, if you wish to send letter correspondence, ensure the 'Dynamic Practice Address' option is enabled for the letter template you're using, so that the sender address on letters automatically matches the site where the appointment takes place. We recommend sending referrals correspondences from within the calendar.
How is the status updated for incoming referrals?
When you receive an incoming referral (either by another practice, or by someone else within your practice), the status of the referral will start out as 'Received'. The sender cannot change the status, but you should update it to communicate the status of the referral to both your team and the sender.
You can edit the status either in the 'Patient referrals' report, or when viewing a specific referral.
If you are willing to take on the treatment, change it to 'Accepted'. If you are not willing to accept the treatment, change it to 'Rejected'.
In both cases, the sender will be able to see it has been accepted (as well as whether you continue to update the status in future).
For accepted referrals, update the status as the patient treatment progresses. - after 'Accepted', you can change it to 'Booked' and 'Completed' (or you can change it to 'Rejected' at any time).
If you change the status to anything other than 'Received', it cannot be changed back to 'Received', and if you change it to 'Rejected' you cannot change it to any other status (as at this point, the sender might have communicated the outcome to the patient).
💡 Top tip: When booking an appointment for a referred patient from another in-group practice, if you wish to send letter correspondence, ensure the 'Dynamic Practice Address' option is enabled for the letter template you're using, so that the sender address on letters automatically matches the site where the appointment takes place. We recommend sending referrals correspondences from within the calendar.