The Clinical Systems team recommend patients are not advised to manually email photos to the surgery.*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Request patients send in a photo/document ?? 
• Patient replies 

Below explains how to send requests for photos and how to process the replies. A similiar method can be used for other messages to patients and requesting copies of other documents etc. This could include having patients take photos of documents such as BP diaries etc.

Request patients send in a photo/document ?? 

1. Having retrieved the record of the patient, open Communications Annexe (purple speech bubble) on your SystmOne toolbar
2. Select how to send the message (SMS/Email etc)
3. Click the Preset icon
4. Search/select the Photo/document request preset 
5. Select the most appropriate recipient for the response from the patient
   (e.g. A Team or Staff member - If the photo is intended for an appointment the same day, the clinician is likely the most-appropriate recipient)
6. Confirm you are happy with the message and then Send 

Patient replies

Replies are received as Task type Patient Reply, these are automatically linked with the patient record. 
As with all active Tasks, this can be found on Patient Home even if the owner of the Task hasn't yet processed it. 

The task will contain any message the patient has written and indicate in writing if there is also an attachment. 

You can view the attachment immediately (and likely should to screen for "appropriateness"). Right-click 'View Attachment'. 

Once happy that this should be included in the record 

1. Action the task 
2. When prompted if you want to add the attachment to the record, select Yes 

⚠ The textual response from the patient is not added to the record; where this is appropriate, copy and paste the information from the Task for good records keeping. 

*Photos manually sent to the surgery via email:

1. Results in delays in receiving them (must be processed and attached to record by staff) - The method above means as soon as the patient sends the photo (or other document) it is available to all staff when retrieving the record
2. Can cause processing issues (smartphone and other modern digital camera photos are often unsuitable for medical imaging and records as they are unecessarily large and cannot be attached without additional administrative resource)