Starting a consent form
- In the patient list, click the patient's Consent Status (or open the patient and use the Consent section → Continue consent form).
- Select the procedure, surgeon and hospital.
- The form opens as the hospital's Consent and Admission Request Form, pre-filled from the patient record.
Every hospital has a standard consent form set up automatically, so you can consent patients straight away. If your clinic wants to change which questions appear, see Customising consent forms (consent form builder).
Completing the form
The form is split into separate boxes, one for each section: patient details, procedure, consent statements, risks, signatures, hospital admission request and pre-admission screening. The Email Recipients panel at the top shows exactly who the signed PDF will be emailed to (clinic notification, hospital notification and the patient).
- Guardian details only appear when the patient is under 18.
- The procedure section shows six item number fields. They are pre-filled with the procedure's default Medicare item numbers, and left blank if the procedure has none.
- Risks from the primary procedure and any additional procedures are all included on the form.
- The patient or guardian signature box runs the full width of the form so it is easier to sign on a tablet.
- At the end of the form, use the Contacts field to add anyone else who should receive the signed PDF. You can search every contact saved under Consent Forms → Contacts.
The consent form is used as the hospital request for admission form.
Save as draft, or complete and send
- Click Save as Draft at any point. A Save Draft button also sits directly under the patient signature. For example, the surgeon completes the risks and signature with the patient present, and admin staff finish the rest later.
- A surgery date is required before you can Complete and Send. You can enter the surgery date and click Complete and Send in one step. There is no need to save a draft first.
- Drafts without a surgery date appear under Drafts Awaiting Surgery Date on the patient list.
- On sending, the signed PDF is emailed automatically to the configured recipients and attached to the patient record.
The signed PDF
The signed PDF is laid out as structured, hospital-ready pages, with the clinic header on every page:
- Page 1 — procedure details, the doctor's statement and signature, and blood products.
- Page 2 (and page 3 if needed) — all risks, the consent statements and the patient signature.
- Hospital admission request page — marked Hospital use only, with admission and operation details, medications, allergies, item numbers, equipment, pre-admission details and diagnosis.
More than one consent form for a patient
If a patient needs a second procedure, for example a right knee replacement followed by a left knee replacement, open the patient record and click Add consent form in the Consent section. The new form is pre-filled with the patient details from the first form. Each consent form is listed separately (Consent Form 1, Consent Form 2 and so on) with its own PDF.