Patient demographics, GP and next of kin

A patient record can hold far more than a name and phone number. Keeping the demographics complete makes prescriptions, complications and any medico-legal query much easier to handle later.

What you can record

• Personal details: first and last name, date of birth, gender, email and phone. The record shows the patient's age next to their name once a date of birth is saved.
• Address: address line, city and postcode.
• GP name or practice and GP address: useful if you ever need to write to a patient's doctor about a complication or medical history.
• Next of kin name and Next of kin phone: the person to contact in an emergency.

Where to edit

1. Open the patient from the Patients page.
2. Go to the Details tab. The Demographics card is at the top. Change any field and press Save details.

First and last name are required. You can correct an email, phone, date of birth, address or postcode that is already saved, but you cannot remove it. You do not have to complete details that are already missing to save another change.

The card shows which details are missing. If you have an email or phone number for the patient, Request details lets you ask them to supply the rest. See Adding and editing patients for how the link works.

VIP patients

Tick VIP patient in Demographics (or when adding the patient) to mark someone as a VIP. They get a VIP badge in the patient list and at the top of their record, so the whole team knows at a glance.

Good practice

• Capture the date of birth early; it appears on prescriptions for you to check and shows age at a glance.
• Fill in GP details for anyone having injectable treatments, before you need them in a hurry.