What to do if a patient is deceased

When a patient passes away, you can set the status of their patient file to Deceased. This changes how the record is displayed and stops recalls, but it does not cancel bookings or stop most automated messages, so a few follow-up checks are worth doing. This article covers what the status does, what it does not do, and how to tidy up the rest.

Mark the patient as deceased

1. On the Demographic tab, select Edit Patient at the bottom of the screen.
2. In the "Status" drop-down menu, select Deceased and enter a date/time if known.
3. Select Save & Close.
4. Select Save Patient.

What marking a patient as deceased does

• The patient's record and their rows in search results are highlighted in red, and the status shows as Deceased. There is no pop-up alert beyond this colouring and status.
• The patient stops appearing on recall due lists, so recall letters and recall reminders are no longer generated for them.

What it does not stop

Setting the status to Deceased is largely for reference. It does not switch off other activity on the record:

• Bookings are not cancelled or blocked. Any existing future bookings stay in the Diary, and HealthTrack does not warn you if a new booking is made for a deceased patient.
• Automated messages are not stopped. Booking reminder SMS, mass SMS, mail merge letters and Patient Connect program messages are not automatically suppressed for deceased patients. Only recalls stop.

After marking a patient as deceased, we recommend working through this checklist:

1. Cancel any future bookings for the patient in the Diary.
2. Check whether the patient is enrolled in any Patient Connect programs and end those enrolments.
3. Check any patient worklists used for mass SMS or mail merge campaigns and remove the patient where appropriate.

Deceased patients still appear in search

Deceased patients are not hidden from the main patient search. They continue to appear in search results with their status shown, which keeps their history available for billing, correspondence and record-keeping. If you need to work with a list limited to one status, use Advanced Search and apply its patient status filter.

If a patient is marked as deceased by mistake

The status is fully reversible. Open the patient's status again and select the correct status (Active, Inactive or Contact). The recorded date of death is cleared automatically when you save. There is no extra confirmation step, so double-check you have the right patient before changing the status either way.

IHI Status

The IHI status from the Healthcare Identifiers Service is separate from the patient status. If an IHI check reports the patient as deceased, HealthTrack raises an IHI alert for you to action, but it does not change the patient's status in HealthTrack. Update the patient status yourself using the steps above.