Referral Operations command centre

The command centre gives the referral desk a shared answer to three questions: what arrived, who owns the administrative work and what needs to happen next. It brings together the evidence already recorded in Today, Inbox, the booking worklist and Cancellation Fill. It does not create a second appointment diary.

One shared view of the work

Each open referral keeps its original arrival position and shows:

• the named administrative owner responsible for the next action;
• any separately recorded practitioner assignment;
• the next administrative action, such as checking details, requesting information, preparing patient contact or recording an external booking; and
• the evidence already recorded for contact attempts, follow-up and booking.

The administrative owner is a reception or practice-management responsibility. Practitioner assignment identifies the clinician or service stream connected with the referral. Assigning a practitioner does not assign the reception work, prove that contact happened or change queue order. A general “Practice team” label is not presented as named ownership. Staff can take an unclaimed item and return their own item to the shared queue. Owners and Admins can assign any active team member, hand work to another person or return it to the Practice team. Every change is recorded in the referral’s sealed history.

Oldest first, with the next action clear

Open work stays in original referral arrival order. Refera can show that a follow-up date is due, but it does not move that referral ahead of an earlier arrival. Diagnosis, stated urgency, specialty and clinical content never influence order.

The next action comes from the recorded administrative state. For example, a new arrival needs a staff check, a missing-information request needs follow-up, and an administratively ready referral can move to patient contact. If Refera cannot derive one supported action, it shows no action rather than inventing work.

Contact and booking remain staff controlled

Refera can prepare a patient-contact draft only after staff have moved the referral into the booking workflow. A named staff member checks the contact basis and destination, approves the draft and uses the practice’s approved phone, SMS or email channel. Draft approval, a contact attempt and a booking are recorded as separate events. Refera never contacts a patient on its own.

The appointment is created and managed in the practice’s existing booking system or PMS. Refera records the staff-confirmed handoff, including the named system and appointment time, but the practice system remains the source of truth.

Cancellation Fill keeps a deterministic order

Cancellation Fill remains separate from the referral Inbox:

• Ready to book follows original referral arrival order.
• Earlier appointment follows the patient’s recorded available-from date, then original referral arrival order.

Only the first eligible record can have an active offer. Staff approve the draft, contact the patient through the practice’s usual channel and confirm the booking in the practice system. Clinical content never changes either ordering rule.

The value ledger

The value ledger reports only what the recorded evidence supports.

Measure	What counts
Backlog age	Time since receipt for work that is still open.
Time to first contact	Receipt to the first recorded patient-contact attempt. It remains unavailable when event coverage is incomplete.
Bookings recorded	A staff-confirmed booking event in the named practice system, not a draft or contact attempt.
Cancellations filled	A cancellation slot that staff marked filled, not an offer or acceptance alone.
Staff time estimate	Shown only when the practice provides its own minutes-per-action baseline and the supporting event data is complete.
Appointment value estimate	Shown only from a practice-entered slot value or documented practice baseline. It is an estimate, not booked or recovered revenue.

Missing evidence stays visible as unavailable. Refera does not fill gaps with a benchmark or an invented estimate. Owners and Admins can enter or clear the optional time and appointment-value figures under Settings > Practice profile > Impact estimates.

A practical daily rhythm

1. Check the oldest open work and any item without a named administrative owner.
2. Confirm the next action and let one staff member take responsibility for it.
3. Record patient contact and follow-up as it happens.
4. Complete the booking in the practice system, then record the handoff in Refera.
5. Review backlog age, contact timing, confirmed bookings and filled cancellations at the end of the week. Add time or appointment-value baselines only when the practice can support them.

Related

• Patient booking worklist - contact and booking states.
• Referral analytics - the connected administrative aggregates.
• Cancellation Fill - eligibility, order and value boundaries.
• Team accounts and roles - one account per person and role controls.