What this means for your practice
Decide whether saving progress is appropriate and how duplicates will be reviewed. Give visitors a clear understanding of what has and has not been submitted.
An example to discuss with your team
Leave and restart a fictional form; the system should not imply that an unfinished record was submitted.
What to ask before you choose
Leave a fictional form halfway through and return later. What does the person see, and what has reception received? Decide whether saved progress suits this process. Keep early information requests proportionate and give possible duplicates an authorised review route.
Explain what is saved and what is sent
If the form offers saved progress, tell the person what that means and how they return. If it does not, make the limitation clear before they spend a long time entering information. The practice should decide whether a saved draft is appropriate for the task and how it will be handled under its approved arrangements.
Use a fictional example to leave the form midway, reopen it and finish later. Ask what reception can see at each stage. An unfinished draft should not look like a completed submission unless that is the intended, clearly explained process. Then try restarting instead of resuming, so the team can see how a possible duplicate is identified and reviewed. Keep the final confirmation distinct from any 'saved' message. Look at common stopping points with the team: a confusing question or an unexpected document request may be the real problem. Making the form shorter or explaining preparation can help more than adding a complicated save feature.
How to check the result
Track abandonment points and duplicate administrative records.
Turn reading into a next step
Your action checklist
Work through these checks with your team or supplier. Tick the ones you have resolved and leave unknowns open.
Record what you know, what is still missing and the answer you need from your team or supplier.
Use project decisions only, without personal, patient or confidential details. Entries stay in this page and are not submitted to Kay & Co. Copy or download before leaving; this page does not save your notes.
Further reading
These sources provide background for the topic. The practice examples and checklist are illustrative planning suggestions from Kay & Co.
Related guides
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