EMMA Completed a Form for a Patient Not Registered at the Practice

Purpose of Document

Practices occasionally raise concern when a submission appears in their dashboard from a patient they cannot find on their clinical system. This can generate confusion about whether EMMA has made an error, a data problem has occurred, or an unregistered patient has received inappropriate advice. This article ensures support staff can explain this clearly, correctly, and in line with NHS requirements.

Background: Why EMMA Must Handle All Incoming Calls

This is the most important point to understand before investigating any unregistered patient complaint.

Due to NHS requirements, EMMA must handle all incoming calls to a surgery's phone number, including calls from patients who are not registered at that surgery. EMMA cannot screen out unregistered callers before answering. Every call must be answered and the patient given access to a safe next step.

This is the same requirement that applies to human receptionists. A receptionist cannot refuse to speak to someone who calls the surgery, even if that person is not a patient there. They would listen, identify the situation, and redirect appropriately. EMMA follows the same logic.

How EMMA Identifies Unregistered Patients

EMMA performs a live PDS (Personal Demographics Service) lookup on every call. The PDS lookup returns whether the patient is registered at the surgery or not.

If EMMA identifies that a patient is not registered at the surgery, EMMA can:

Capture information from the caller if they wish to register and flag it as an administrative request
Signpost the caller to a registration link
Transfer the caller to reception if the call requires human handling

However, EMMA does not refuse the call. The patient still receives a response and a next step.

Scenarios That Lead to Unregistered Submissions

1. The patient dialled the wrong surgery number

This is the most common cause. A patient called the wrong surgery by mistake. They gave their details, EMMA completed the PDS lookup, identified they were not registered, and either captured a message or transferred them to reception. In some cases, depending on configuration, a message may still have been submitted.

What to do:

Check the call recording to confirm what the patient said and what they were trying to do
Confirm they were clearly calling the wrong surgery
Advise the practice to contact the patient if possible to let them know they reached the wrong surgery and provide the correct number
No action is required on the submission itself unless the patient had an urgent clinical need

2. The patient wants to register at the surgery

A patient who is not yet registered may call to enquire about registering. EMMA can capture this as an administrative request and flag it for the practice to action. The submission will appear in the dashboard as a non-PDS-verified administrative enquiry.

What to do:

Confirm the call recording shows the patient was enquiring about registration
Advise the practice to action the submission through their normal registration process
Confirm to the practice that this is expected and appropriate behaviour

3. A family member or carer called on behalf of a patient registered elsewhere

A carer or family member may call their own regular surgery's number by mistake when trying to reach the surgery where their family member is registered. EMMA captures the call and submits the request, but the patient's details do not match the practice's registered patient list.

What to do:

Review the call recording to confirm the caller identified as calling on behalf of someone else
Confirm the patient mentioned is registered at a different surgery
Advise the practice they can disregard the submission and contact the caller to redirect them to the correct surgery if appropriate

4. The patient recently moved and their PDS record has not yet been updated

A patient who has recently moved between surgeries may still have their old surgery listed on PDS while their new registration is being processed. They call their new surgery but EMMA's PDS lookup shows them as registered at the old surgery.

What to do:

Confirm the call recording shows the patient believes they are registered at this surgery
Check whether the patient recently transferred from another practice
Advise the practice to action the submission appropriately and check with the patient about their registration status
PDS records take time to update after a registration change. This is not an EMMA fault.

5. The patient's PDS record is outdated or contains an error

Occasionally a PDS record may contain incorrect surgery registration information due to a system discrepancy. The patient may have been registered at the surgery for some time but PDS has not been correctly updated.

What to do:

Advise the practice to check their clinical system records directly
If the patient is on the clinical system but not appearing as registered via PDS, raise this with the NHS Spine team as a PDS data issue
EMMA uses PDS as the source of truth and cannot override it

6. The patient is not registered anywhere and is calling to access urgent care

Some patients are not currently registered with any NHS GP practice. If they call a surgery and describe an urgent need, EMMA must still provide them with a safe next step. EMMA can capture their details as an administrative request and flag it for the practice.

What to do:

Review the call recording to confirm the patient described an urgent or clinical need
If the patient had an urgent need, confirm that EMMA provided appropriate 111 or 999 signposting if applicable
Advise the practice to assess the submission and respond appropriately given the patient's circumstances

What the Submission Will Look Like in the Dashboard

A submission from an unregistered patient will appear in the dashboard without a PDS-verified NHS number. For Accurx surgeries, PDS-verified patients display as Surname, First Name (NHS Number). If the NHS number is absent, the patient was not PDS-verified during the call, which includes unregistered patients.

The submission will still contain the name, date of birth, postcode, and request details the patient provided during the call.

What Practice Staff Should Do With the Submission

The practice team should:

Review the submission and identify what the patient was asking for
Check whether the patient is on their clinical system despite not being PDS-verified as registered
If the patient is clearly at the wrong surgery, contact them if possible to redirect them
If the patient was enquiring about registration, action through the normal registration process
If the patient had an urgent clinical need, assess whether any follow-up action is required

EMMA cannot prevent these submissions from appearing in the dashboard because she must handle all calls. The practice team's review is the final step in determining how to action each case.

How to Configure EMMA to Better Handle Unregistered Callers

If a practice is receiving a high volume of unregistered patient calls and wants EMMA to handle them more specifically, the following configuration options are available on request:

Configure EMMA to transfer all non-PDS-verified callers directly to reception rather than completing a form submission
Configure EMMA to specifically ask whether the patient is registered at the surgery and route accordingly
Configure EMMA to provide a specific registration signposting message for callers who wish to register

These are configurable on a per-surgery basis. Raise a configuration request with the engineering or configuration team if a practice requests this.

Step-by-Step Triage Process

Ask the practice to describe the submission they are concerned about. Is there a name on the submission? What was the patient asking for?
Check the call recording to identify who the caller was and what they said.
Confirm whether the patient was PDS-verified during the call.
Identify the most likely scenario from those listed above.
Advise the practice on how to action the submission based on the scenario identified.
If the practice is receiving a high volume of unregistered caller submissions and wants this handled differently, discuss configuration options.

What to Tell the Practice

Example wording explaining why EMMA handles unregistered calls:

"EMMA answers every call that comes in on your surgery number because, like a receptionist, she cannot screen callers before answering. She uses the NHS Personal Demographics Service to check whether each caller is registered at your surgery. If someone is not registered, EMMA can still capture their details as an administrative request or signpost them to a registration link. The submission will appear in your dashboard without an NHS number, which is how you can identify it came from an unregistered or non-PDS-verified caller. Your team can then review it and decide how to action it."

Common Mistakes

Telling a practice EMMA should have refused to handle the call. NHS requirements mean EMMA must handle all incoming calls.
Assuming an unregistered submission is always a platform error. In most cases it is expected behaviour.
Not checking the call recording before advising the practice on the cause.
Not mentioning that PDS records take time to update after a registration change.
Not offering configuration options if the practice wants to change how unregistered callers are handled.

Escalation Guidance

Escalate to engineering if:

A patient who is confirmed registered at the surgery is consistently appearing as unregistered in PDS lookups and submissions
Unregistered patient submissions are appearing in the dashboard for a practice that has specific configuration in place to handle them differently
The PDS lookup is returning incorrect registration information for multiple patients at the same surgery

When escalating, always include:

Surgery name and ODS code
Affected submission details and call ID
PDS verification status shown in the submission
What the call recording shows about the patient's stated details

Last Reviewed: May 2026 Owner: Support and Customer Success