How to Trace/Register a Patient via PDS
Tracing is done from the Vision 3 Registration module.
Note - GP2GP transfer software allows a GP2GP enabled practice, when registering a new patient, to request electronically the patient record from the patient's previous practice, if they, too, are GP2GP enabled. The previous practice "send" the patient record electronically to the requesting practice into Mail Manager, from where it is filed into Consultation Manager. You must endeavour to register the patient via PDS and not locally else an incoming GP2GP transfer will never occur for this patient.
- Before registering a new patient in Vision 3, you should make sure you are working online with the national services having used the Single Sign On with your Smartcard.
- From the Registration, select New Patient
. - Enter the patient details. Whether you can search using an alphanumeric or algorithmic trace is determined by the values you enter in the New Patient screen. (See Patient Tracing/Registration Overview). Also, you can search for the patient details if you have an NHS number.
The fields available are:
- NHS Number
- Date of Birth
- Sex
- Surname
- Forename
- PostcodeNote - Tracing on postcode searches all current addresses stored in the PDS. In an advanced trace, both current and historic addresses is searched.
Please note the following:
- The acceptable format for a postcode is one with an outcode and an incode, separated by a space (eg SW8 3QJ). Any leading and trailing spaces are removed automatically by Vision 3 before they are transmitted to the PDS.
- Date of births can be entered in any conventional format, Vision 3 arranges the numbers into the PDS required format (DD/MM/YYYY).
- Select Find
to trace the patient on the PDS. - One of the following scenarios can occur:
- Single Patient Found on PDS
- Single Patient Not Found on the PDS
- Multiple PDS Matches Returned
- NHS Number Already Exists on Vision
