What to change
Write the questions around the two roles rather than repeating your details. Explain which information relates to the person attending and which is used to discuss the enquiry.
A worked example
Illustrative example
An enquiry made by a parent first identifies the prospective patient, then asks how the team should contact the parent about arrangements. The page does not treat those answers as interchangeable.
Put it into practice
Ask the team which details help identify an existing booking and which are simply preferences for communication. A fictional family enquiry is a useful review case: each field should make clear whose information belongs there.
Use headings that identify each person explicitly where relevant. Clear labels reduce the need for reception to clarify whether the supplied number belongs to the patient or the person helping them.
What to agree before publishing
Use headings that identify whose information is being requested at each point. The patient, the person making the enquiry and the preferred reply contact may be different people. Ask reception to review a fictional family example and explain how it would read the resulting message. Keep identification questions separate from contact preferences. This avoids assigning the helper's number to the patient or treating a preferred reply route as proof of authority to discuss an existing appointment, which the team must handle through its usual process.
How to check the result
The receiving team can understand the relationship between the request and the contact route without guessing.
A mistake to avoid
Do not infer authority to manage a patient's records merely because someone provided their own contact details on the enquiry.
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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