e-Referral Service Archiving function

Introduction Where there has been no activity on a referral/UBRN for 18 months or more, it will automatically be moved into a file called the Archive Viewer. You do not need to do anything as this will happen in the background. Where there are related referrals there must be no activity against any of the referrals in the care path. The Archive Viewer has the same safety protocols as any smartcard accessible application. “No activity” is defined as no history actions being recorded against the UBRN within the NHS e-Referral Service. 

Introduction A deletion process will take place once the UBRN has moved from the live NHS e-Referral Service into the Archive Viewer. All referrals, including appointment requests and advice and guidance requests, are affected once they have not been active for 18 months or more. Archived files will include all clinical information, attachments and referral history. The archiving process provides three key benefits: allows for better management of referrals that are no longer active but may still require accessing speeds up the NHS e-Referral Service by holding old files in a separate area reduces the cost of keeping old referrals in the live environment Note: to view archived referral information will require users to have access to applications which can open zipped and pdf files.

Accessing archived referrals As a Referring Clinician, or Referring Clinician Admin, enter the patients NHS number then select ‘View Archive’.

Accessing archived referrals The archived referrals are displays in a separate browser window. Select the required UBRN.

Accessing archived referrals Select the ‘Copy Password’ button. Select the ‘Allow access’ option which will enable the password to be copied to your clipboard. A similar message will appear if using another browser.

Accessing archived referrals Select ‘Open’ to retrieve the archived referral information.

Accessing archived referrals Accept the message to allow access to archived referral information. Double click to open the UBRN folder.

Accessing archived referrals Double click to open the UBRN pdf file. More information on this referral, e.g. referral letter, is available within the ‘ClinicalAttachments’ folder.

Accessing archived referrals Paste the copied password and select ‘OK’.

Accessing archived referrals The pdf file opens and the information can be viewed by scrolling through the document.

What else do users need to know about Archiving? After opening referrals via the Archive Viewer users should clear their temporary internet files to ensure patient data is not held on their computer. This should be completed in line with local IT standards. More information on how to action this can be found within the Archived Referrals document. Users do not need to do anything for referrals to be archived. The NHS e-Referral Service will do this automatically once the referral has had no activity against it for 18 months. Archived referrals will not be shown in any enquiries or extracts.

Additional information Further support can be accessed from within NHS e-Referral Service through the Help function. Frequently Asked Questions are detailed within the Archive Guidance document. Users are able to feedback on this supporting information by emailing nhs.ers@nhs.net.