Saving/Deleting the Template

Any changes you make to the template are not actually saved until you click the Save button.

You will then be provided with the following warning:

If you close the template via either the Close button, or the Close Box (red cross), then none of the changes you have made to the template will be saved.

This is to allow you to open the template, add a personal note for a particular patient, and then close the window without having the personal note automatically saved in the template, which someone else may subsequently use for a mass mail out to 500 patients.

You can name the template in the Title box and categorise it using the Category drop down menu. Categories are added through the Letter Template window, see the beginning of this chapter.

Saving A Copy In Patient Notes

If you want to save a copy of the letter in the relevant patient’s clinical record, select the checkbox named Save a Copy in Clinical Record.

You would usually do this if the letter had any medico-legal value, so that in a year’s time you would still have exactly what was mailed to the patient, because the actual template may well have been modified or deleted in the meantime.

The copy of the letter is created when the letter is actually printed, or emailed. If you were not actually printing the letter but still wanted to create a copy in the patient’s record, you can click on the Copy button to the right of the Print button.

Creating a Consultation Note

Alternatively, you can choose to have a consultation record created with a note like “<Template Name> sent 25/9/03” automatically inserted.

To do this, select the Create a Consult after Printing checkbox.

You would usually only choose one or the other of these two options. Selecting both is probably overkill.

Use for Quotes

Selecting the Use For Quotes checkbox will make this template available from within a Procedure record. However, you would normally create a quote template from within the procedure. See Creating Quote Templates for more details.

Deleting Templates

Templates can be deleted from your list of Templates by clicking the Delete Item button in the Letter Templates window. See the beginning of this chapter.