Managing the Recall Invite Status

For English practices, see Managing the Recall Invite Status - England only.

The Invite status column on the Merge screen plays an important part in managing your recall letters/SMS reminders as it gives a clear indication of which letter should be sent to each patient.

Initially, the Invite Status column will show a 1st Invite Required status, indicating that this patient should be invited to attend for review. After the initial invitation letter/SMS text message is sent to the patient, the status changes to 1st Invite Performed. After the mandatory 28 day interval has elapsed, the status changes to 2nd Invite Required indicating that you must send the second invitation letter/text. After the second invitation reminder is generated, the status will further change to 2nd Invite Performed, and so on to Final Invite Required and Final Invite Performed. If the patient still did not attend after the final 28 day interval has passed, the status changes to Did Not Attend. At this point, you might want to consider exception coding these patients, which you can do from the Merge screen and is further explained in Adding Codes to Multiple Patient Records, see Adding Codes to Multiple Patient Records. These exception codes are typically expiring ones and only apply for 15 months contract year. On April 1st each year the invite status reverts back to 1st Invite Required regardless of any letter sent previously.

Note - If a patient displays with a status of three dots (...), it means they have been seen for a review and a review code has been entered in their journal but the QOF/QAIF indicator was not completed (see Entering Additional Codes). You must check when the patient was last seen by selecting the option to Open Patient Record, see Opening Patient Notes from the Patient List. If the patient is subsequently sent a letter a Clinical term will be recorded in their record but the invite status remains as three dots and will not change to 1st letter performed etc because according to the patient's record they have a Clinical term entry indicating that they have had their review.

The Figure below, illustrates the recommended process for managing recall letters for the GMS contract.

Each time you produce recall letters or record a phone call using the Merge screen, the letter status will automatically increment to the next level and an appropriate Clinical term added to the patient clinical record. However, if you want to advance the status manually, you can do so by selecting the patient and choosing Update Invite Status from the Action menu. You must specify the Date that the letter was created or sent.

Note - If performing a mail merge on a QOF/QAIF category that does not have a specific invite Clinical term, the History Entry includes the QOF/QAIF category in the comments box.