A referral is a formal process where one organisation directs or recommends a client to another organisation for specific support or services.
The referral involves sharing the client’s information, with their consent, to ensure the charity is aware of their situation and can follow up.
In summary, a referral ensures the client is connected to the right service provider for their needs.
Creating a referral
Users can create referrals from various parts of Viitata, like when they’re viewing the client or referral lists, or looking at a specific client or referral. The way they start the referral process will affect their steps. For instance, if they create a referral from a list view, they’ll start by searching for a client. But if they create it from an individual view, they’ll go straight to filling out the referral details.
Searching for a client
The first step to making a referral is to check whether your organisation’s (as the sending organisation) client has dealt with the client before. This can help reduce the time spent collecting basic information from the client and create a better picture of the client’s situation by linking the referral to historic referrals made on the client’s behalf.
The user must enter the client’s basic information (first name, last name, and date of birth). This helps the system find any existing clients with exact matching details. However, the user will only see clients they already have permission to view, which depends on whether their organisation has previously sent or received a referral for that client.
Selecting an existing client
If the user’s organisation has previously dealt with a client matching these details, they will appear in a list. Whether there is one match or several, we recommend that users verify additional information with the client to ensure they are the same person as shown in the results.
Creating a client
If there are no matches when searching for a client, the user will skip straight to this step. The client’s first name, last name and date of birth will be pre-filled with the data entered in the initial search.
Personal information
The client’s date of birth and gender are required for eligibility checks when selecting an organisation to receive the referral. We encourage the administering organisations to include a ‘Prefer not to say’ option in their system’s gender options.
Below is a full list of personal information which the user will be asked to obtain from the client:
- Title
- First name
- Last name
- Date of birth
- Pronouns (optional)
- Gender
Contact information
- Email address (optional)
- Phone number
- Alternative Phone Number (optional)
Contact permissions
The user will be required to obtain permission from the client to be contacted by the following methods:
- Phone call
- Text message (SMS)
- Voicemail
- Post
Client address
The user can enter the client’s address by typing it into the address lookup field and choosing from the suggested options, or by manually entering the address. This will help identify the local authority where the client lives and automatically fill in that information.
If the client has no fixed abode, the user can select ‘No fixed abode’, which will remove the address fields from the form. In these cases, the user will only need to select a local authority. The local authority is required as this is part of the eligibility checks later in the process.
Client consent
The user must obtain the client’s consent for every referral; the client’s consent is stored along with the date of consent and user details recording the consent on behalf of the client.
If the client cannot provide consent themselves, the user can enter the name of the person giving consent on the client’s behalf.
Referral details
In this section, the user attributes issues to the client’s referral and sets the urgency.
Sending organisation
The referral will be sent from the user’s active organisation, which is set in the top bar.
For system administrators, they will need to select a sending organisation before proceeding.
Issues
An issue is the category of help or advice which the client requires. They help find eligible organisations to receive the client’s referral.
The user must select the issue(s) relevant to the client’s referral. Each issue selected will generate a separate referral, enabling receiving organisations to manage the status of each issue independently for the client.
The administering organisation configures the issues which appear in the options.
Timeframes
If the referral is urgent, the user can inform the receiving organisation by applying an ‘urgent’ flag to it.
This setting will also change the timeframes for the system notifications to prompt the receiving organisation to review and close the referral. The system administrator sets the timeframes in the account settings, and these are displayed to the user at this step.
Select organisations
The user must select an organisation (or multiple organisations) to receive the referral. An organisation can only accept referrals for the issues it is set up to handle. For example, if a client’s referral includes both Housing Advice and Welfare Benefits, but the organisation only handles Housing Advice, the user will need to select at least one other organisation for the remaining issue.
When a client’s issue is referred to several organisations, the first organisation to acknowledge the referral after review will take responsibility for the issue. Any other referrals will be automatically closed to prevent the client from being contacted by multiple parties.
Organisations are prioritised based on a ‘best match’ system, which considers how closely their criteria align with the referral. Organisations will only appear in the results if they meet the following conditions:
- The organisation is active.
- The organisation is accepting referrals.
- The organisation has not reached its capacity for open referrals.
- The organisation handles the selected issue(s).
- The organisation accepts referrals based on the client’s age, gender, and locality.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire is a universal form required for all referrals. Its purpose is to collect all the relevant information to help the receiving organisation assist the client with their issue(s).
Questions can be tailored to specific issues, allowing relevant information to be captured and shared based on the client’s needs. For example, if the client seeks help with a domestic abuse issue, the form can gather specific details related to that situation, without sharing this information with other issues the client may require assistance with.
The responses are saved to the client’s profile, allowing the questionnaire to be pre-filled for review and updated when necessary if the client is re-referred for the same issues. This helps save time for both the client and the user when sending the referral.
The administering organisation is responsible for setting up and configuring the system questionnaire.
Summary
The referral is summarised for the user to allow for a final check before sending the referral on behalf of the client.
Client profile
This section contains basic details about the client:
- Date of birth and age
- Gender
- Residing local authority
- Email address (if applicable)
- Phone number
- Alternative phone number (if applicable)
- Address
Referral details
This section contains basic details about the referral:
- Sending organisation
- Issues
- Urgency
- Confirmation of expected timeframes
Receiving organisation(s)
This displays a sum of the receiving organisations, as well as lists out the organisation names.
Email notifications
The user can choose to subscribe to updates via email notification. If subscribed, the user will receive notifications when the following events occur:
- A receiving organisation acknowledges the client’s referral.
- A receiving organisation closes the client’s referral.
- A receiving organisation adds a note to the client’s referral.
- A receiving organisation uploads a file to the client’s referral.
Sending the referral(s)
The user must review the information to ensure accuracy of the information and then click “Save”. This will trigger the creation of the referrals.
A referral will be created for each combination of receiving organisation and type issue. This is to allow the recipients to update acceptance status of referrals independently, and also keep the questions and responses from the questionnaire attributed to the appropriate type of issue.
After sending the referral(s), the user will be redirected to the “Referrals” tab within the relevant client details page. This allows the user to confirm and track all the referrals which they have sent for the client.
Editing the referral(s)
If the user needs to make edit, they simply navigate “Back” to the appropriate step of the form.