ACS to wrong GP process Introduction The purpose of this document is to identify the steps to be undertaken should an ambulance care summary (ACS) be sent to the wrong practice. This will occur for one of two reasons: 1
The NHI Number is incorrect
2
The patient has transferred to another practice.
Notifications of corrections In keeping with patient privacy, all ACSs that are sent to the GP will be in a pre-determined format called ‘GP Advice View’. This format has been approved with input from the Royal NZ College of GPs to ensure the correct and necessary information is sent. The ACS is sent via HealthLink ensuring that the documentation goes directly to the patient’s registered GP practice using the NHI (National Health Index), NES (National Enrolment System) and HPI (Health Practitioner Index) databases stored information. Occasionally this information is not up to date or there is an NHI Number discrepency. In this instance the responsibility to notify St John of the incorrectly received documentation lies with the general practice team. To ensure timely notification of incorrectly received documentation, there is a statement on all ACS forms on the top right hand corner. *** ATTENTION GP *** If this patient is not enrolled in your practice or if you believe you have received this information in error please notify the St John Referrals Coordinator at info@stjohn.org.nz or by phoning 0800 ST JOHN (0800 473 876) and asking to speak to the Referrals Coordinator. Once the referrals coordinator receives the notification of error they will attempt to re-send the ACS to the correct practice.
Process for re-sending An email or phone conversation with the provider representative will alert the referrals coordinator to the error. The referrals coordinator will then establish the reason for the error. This is likely to be one of two reasons: 1
The NHI Number is incorrect or
2
The patient has transferred to another GP and the National Enrolment System has not yet been updated.
In the first case, the referrals coordinator can use NHI look-up to search for possible duplicates and select the correct NHI Number if the wrong person was selected by the crew in error. The referrals coordinator can then re-send the GP advice and the system will read the new NHI number and send the GP Advice to the appropriate practice. If the patient has transferred to another practice or is no longer enrolled with a practice and the advising GP practice is unaware of the patient movements, the referrals coordinator can liaise with the local DHB and/or PHO in the area for further information. Bounce back ACS forms that fall in to this category will be retained for one month with an attempt made to re-send to the newly registered GP. This allows for the monthly update of enrolment by the Ministry of Health.