Playbook, medical practice
Why a practice cannot email somebody a way back in
The account somebody has lost is not a shopping login. Behind it sits appointment booking, repeat prescriptions and in many cases the record itself, which is why a practice hands out access after checking who somebody is at the desk, and why it cannot be restored from a chat window.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for password resets holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The account opens a medical record, so the process is deliberately harder than a commercial one and turns on the practice confirming identity rather than on an automated link doing it.
- Patients regularly hold two logins at once, a national one they set up themselves and the practice's own online services account, and they do not know which has failed, so establishing that comes before any instruction.
- Practice online access is usually switched on from a letter issued at the desk carrying an account identifier and a one time passphrase, so a patient who has lost that letter needs the desk again rather than a reset page.
- Reception cannot see or read out a password either, which means the honest description of the process is a fresh issue after an identification check, not the recovery of anything that already exists.
How it arrives
- i cant log in to order my prescriptions
- i have lost the letter with my online account details
- how do i reset my online services password
- which login do i use for the surgery
- do i have to come in to get my account unlocked
- my account is locked after too many tries
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Which online services you offer and under which login | What a patient can do once they are in, and which sign in route reaches it. If two logins exist, say so at the top, because that is where the confusion starts and everything after it is wasted otherwise. |
|---|---|
| How access is issued in the first place | The identification check, the letter, the identifier and the passphrase, and how long any of it stays valid. A lost letter is the commonest version of this question and the reset page cannot help with it. |
| What reception can and cannot do about a locked account | So the assistant does not promise something the desk will refuse. If a lock clears on its own after a period, that is worth publishing on its own. |
| The identification accepted for an unlock in person | Listed, so somebody makes one trip rather than two. This is the same list as registration at some practices and a different one at others, so write it here rather than cross referring. |
The reply
There are usually two different logins involved, and the fix depends on which one has failed, so our online services page describes both [1]. Access to booking and prescriptions here is switched on from a letter we issue after checking identification at the desk, and if that letter has gone a new one is issued the same way [2]. Nobody at the practice can see or read out a password. I cannot reset anything or look up an account, so if the reset on the sign in page has not worked, please ring reception or come in with the identification listed there.
It separates the two logins first, because an instruction for the wrong one wastes the entire exchange. It gives the reason the desk is involved rather than apologising for it, which turns an inconvenience into something that makes sense. And it says outright that staff cannot read a password, which is the belief behind a good share of these calls.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor has already tried the reset on the sign in page, says the account is locked, or has lost the letter that issued their access.
I cannot reset an account, unlock one or check whether one exists. Please ring reception or come in with identification, and they will reissue access.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say an account has been reset, unlocked or created.
- Never ask for a password, a passphrase, an account identifier or a date of birth in the chat.
- Never confirm that an account exists for a named person or an email address.
- Never suggest a workaround such as using a relative's login, because that is somebody else's record.
Questions
- Could it reset an account if we connected the system?
- No. It has no write access to anything and cannot verify who is typing, which is exactly the check this process exists to perform. It explains the route and hands over.
- Why does this reach the widget rather than the sign in page?
- Because the sign in page has already failed them. By the time somebody types this they have clicked the reset once, and the practice website is the next thing they think of.
- Is it safe to describe the letter we issue?
- Describing the process is fine and useful. Quoting anything from an individual letter is not, and the assistant should never accept an identifier or a passphrase in the chat even when a patient offers one.
Keep reading
- Everything for a medical practiceAdministrative questions a practice can safely automate, the symptom questions it must never touch, and how to word the refusal.
- Handling password resets in generalAn assistant cannot reset anything. It can walk somebody through your real flow and name the step that usually breaks.
- Somebody wants into a record that is not theirsParents, carers and adult children ask to reach somebody else's record. Consent, the age review and what a clinician may restrict.
- Data questions at a practice arrive from patients and from organisationsPatients ask who their data is shared with; organisations send the practice assurance forms. Neither is answered by improvising.
- Four passports, one nurse and a course of injectionsTravel courses need an assessment first and doses spaced over weeks. Why four passports is not one appointment at a surgery.
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