Marking a consultation as entered in error

Last updated: 2 September 2026

What this is for

A consultation is permanent once it is filed. If one was filed by mistake - on the wrong patient, as a duplicate of another, or with nothing recorded on it - you can mark it as entered in error so it no longer clutters the patient's record.

Nothing is deleted. The consultation and its history are kept, and the action is audited.

How to do it

  1. Open the patient's record and go to Consultations.
  2. Click the consultation to open it.
  3. Choose Mark as entered in error.
  4. Pick a reason. The options are: duplicate of another consultation, filed on the wrong patient, filed with nothing recorded on it, created while training or testing, and other.
  5. Add a note if there is anything a colleague reviewing this later would need to know.
  6. Confirm.

The consultation leaves the patient's consultation list. Anyone with the same permission can restore it later.

What it does not remove

This is the part worth reading twice.

Anything recorded inside the consultation stays on the patient's record. Medications, allergies, observations and documents are committed to the record when you capture them, not when the note is signed - so they do not belong to the note and are not withdrawn with it.

Marking a consultation as entered in error says "this note was filed in error". It does not say "this drug was never prescribed" or "this allergy is not real". If one of those was also wrong, correct it where it lives: end or delete the medication on the medication list, correct the allergy, and so on.

Who can do it

The permission is called Retract a consultation. It is switched on for the Clinician and Administrator roles.

It is deliberately not given to Management: judging that a clinical entry was made in error is a clinical decision.

If your practice uses custom roles, the permission is not added to them automatically - switch it on for the roles you want in Settings → Roles & Permissions.

When to use something else

  • The note is right but incomplete or slightly wrong. Amend it instead. An amendment adds to the record and keeps the original, which is the right answer whenever the encounter genuinely happened.
  • A document is wrong. Documents have their own way of being taken off a record.