Email the patient's registered GP

Why record the GP's email

Keeping the patient's registered GP email on file lets you fire off a referral, discharge summary, or shared-care letter to their GP in seconds — without anyone retyping the address from a directory each time. The address is per-patient (it follows the patient, not the practice), so it works for named-GP correspondence as well as generic surgery inboxes.

Where to enter it

1. Open the patient's record and find the NHS GP section in the sidebar (or the section you've placed the field in via Sections & Fields settings).
2. Below NHS Registered GP Name there's a new NHS Registered GP Email field. Type the address and click out — it saves automatically.
3. The same field is also on the Contact Details step of the Edit Patient wizard, so you can capture it during full patient editing.

If the email format isn't valid, you'll see an inline message and the field won't save until you fix it.

How to use it from Send to HCP

1. Open the patient's record and choose Send to Healthcare Professional (or click "Send to HCP" from a document's actions menu).
2. Click into the To: field.
3. A "Suggested" section appears at the top of the dropdown showing Patient's registered GP with the email and the GP's name/practice as a subtitle.
4. Click it (or press Enter when it's highlighted) and the email pillifies — same as any other recipient.

If you haven't recorded a per-patient GP email but the linked NHS GP Practice has a general email on file, the composer surfaces that with a "Patient's GP practice" label. If neither is set, the suggestion section is just hidden — type the address manually as before.

Use the GP details in letter templates

Three merge fields are available in the template editor and the letter editor:

• {{patient_registered_gp_name}} — e.g. Dr Smith
• {{patient_registered_gp_email}} — e.g. dr.smith@example.nhs.uk
• {{patient_registered_gp_practice}} — e.g. The Cedars Medical Practice

Drop them into a referral letter or shared-care template the same way you'd use {{patient_name}}.

Show or hide the field

The field is configurable via Settings → Sections & Fields:

• Sections tab: add NHS Registered GP Email to whichever patient section you want it surfaced in (e.g. Contact Details, NHS GP).
• Required Fields tab: toggle whether it's visible to practice staff (on by default) and whether it's visible on patient-facing forms (off by default). You can also mark it required for admin if you want reception to always capture it.

By default the field is admin-visible, not required, and hidden from patient booking / registration forms. Patients only see it if you explicitly turn on "Visible to Patient".