How to Start a New Consultation

How to Start a New Consultation

Consultations follow a four-step wizard: Patient, Clinical Record, Review, and Success.

How to Get There

• Patient sidebar > Create Consultation quick action
• Command palette (Ctrl+K / Cmd+K) > search for "Create Consultation"
• Clinical Record > Consultations tab > New Consultation

Step 1: Patient

Select the patient. If the patient already has an open draft consultation, you will see an alert with the option to Continue the draft or Discard it and start fresh.

Consultation Details

Before entering the clinical record, set the consultation metadata:

• Date and Time - defaults to today and now, editable
• Medium - four quick-select buttons: Face-to-face, Telephone, Video, Administration. Click Show More for additional medium options
• Setting - where the consultation takes place (e.g. GP practice premises, patient's home, hospital)
• Responsible Clinician - optional, defaults to the logged-in user
• Summary - a brief description of the consultation purpose

Linking to an Appointment

If the patient has a relevant appointment, you can link the consultation to it. Click Edit Details to link or unlink an appointment. Linked appointments show the appointment type, date, time, duration, clinician, and location. For video appointments, Start Call and Open in Tab buttons appear.

Step 2: Clinical Record

This is where you document findings. See the articles on documenting clinical findings and adding problems for details.

Step 3: Review

Preview the consultation before finalising. See the article on reviewing and finalising.

Step 4: Success

After finalisation, the success screen offers:

• View consultation history - see the completed consultation
• Start another consultation - begin a new one for the same patient
• Return to dashboard

Tip: If the patient arrived via the consulting room, the consultation is automatically linked to their appointment.