Introduction

A Ghost patient is a patient who has not responded to correspondence from the practice or cannot be located and their details are no longer believed to be valid.

If a patient meets the criteria for a Ghost Patient, the following Inspire Health procedures will be followed.

Any patient that does not fully meet the criteria below, but may be considered as a Ghost Patient, will be discussed within the partnership and management team.

Procedures For Adults Registered at the Practice

• Inspire Health will receive returned mail / SMS messages. They may also routinely find a patient during an internal audit which may meet the criteria for a Ghost Patient.
• In the first instance, if it is possible, speak to the patient by phone to check their current address.
• In the second instance, we will try to contact the patient via any of the previously confirmed mobile/ work telephone number or via email, where possible.
• If after the second attempt(s), or if there is no other mobile number/email address on the patient record, or the practice has received no further contact, we will send a letter to the home/correspondence address for the attention of the patient.
• Should the third attempt be unsuccessful, then a final letter to the patient will be sent. This is referred to as the Ghost Patient Letter and is below this policy.
• If after 28 days, the letter has since been returned, or the practice has not received any contact from the patient, the practice will then deduct the patient from the practice list.

Procedures For Children Registered at the Practice

• If the child registered at the practice is considered a 'Ghost Patient', the practice will first ensure that there are no safeguarding or potential risks to the child.
• If the child is considered a 'Ghost Patient' due to a parent/guardian changing practice without also registering their child at the new practice, Inspire Health will contact the last known parent/guardian and ask that they immediately register their child with their current practice, or for the parent/guardian to register back with Inspire Health.
• If the child has no safeguarding concerns and is believed to have followed a parent/guardian as a Ghost Patient, we will endeavour to contact all authorities to ensure they are aware of our efforts to contact the child/family and for any additional information before removing them from the practice list.

Final Letter 

Name                                                                                                 Date

Address                                                                                                       

Address

Address

Postcode

Dear

We have tried to contact on frequent occasions.

On ******* we tried to contact you via telephone

On ******* we tried to contact you via SMS / Email

On ******* we tried to contact you via letter (which was returned)

We believe that you may not be living at your current address due to the non-respondence of our attempts to contact you. We have also looked into your medical record and found no recent contacts with the practice. Patients are expected to update their contact details and inform the practice when this change.

The practice reserves the right to deduct a patient after multiple unsuccessful attempts of contact have been made. 

Please could you kindly contact the surgery to discuss this and confirm with us your address and contact details.

If we do not get a response within 28 days, you will be deducted from our system.

You can find more about our Ghost Patient Protocol which can be viewed on our website: -

 www.inspire-health.co.uk

Your sincerely,

Inspire Health Management Team