Patient Risk Flag Colours

Patient risk flags allow you to mark patients with a colour-coded indicator (red, amber, or green) to quickly identify those who require special attention or monitoring. The flag appears throughout CAREFUL wherever the patient is displayed, helping your team maintain awareness of patient risk levels at a glance.

No special permissions required. Any organisational user can view and update risk flags for patients they have access to.

Once set, risk flags are visible in three locations:

• Patient tables – A coloured flag icon appears next to the patient's surname in "My Patients", team patient lists, and organisation patient lists
• Patient header – The flag appears at the top of the patient profile page
• Hover tooltips – Hovering over any flag icon displays the risk reason

1. Navigate to the patient's profile by clicking their name from any patient table (in My Patients, a team's Patients tab, or My Organisation → Patients tab)

2. The patient profile opens to the Profile tab by default

3. Scroll down to the patient demographics section and locate the Risk flag field (it displays a pencil icon indicating it's editable)

4. Click anywhere on the Risk flag field to open the update dialog

5. The dialog opens with the title "Update risk flag for [FirstName] [SURNAME]"

6. Review the Current risk flag section, which shows:

   • The current colour (Red, Amber, Green, or blank if not set)
   • The current reason (if one exists)

7. In the New risk flag section, click one of the three coloured flag buttons:

   • Red – for high-risk patients requiring immediate attention
   • Amber – for moderate-risk patients requiring increased monitoring
   • Green – for low-risk patients or to indicate a positive status

   The selected flag highlights with a coloured background and white text

8. (Optional) Enter or update the Reason field to explain why this risk level applies (e.g., "High fall risk", "Infection control precautions", "Vulnerable adult")

9. (Optional) To remove an existing risk flag entirely, click the Clear Risk Flag button (displays a ⊘ icon)

10. Click Submit to save your changes

11. The dialog closes and the patient profile refreshes, showing the updated risk flag in the Risk flag field and in the patient header

The three risk flag colours use the CAREFUL platform's standard colour scheme:

• Red (#ff2e08) – Critical/high-risk status
• Amber (#FF7808) – Warning/moderate-risk status
• Green (#3CB371) – Positive/low-risk status

Your organisation may define specific meanings for each colour based on local protocols.

• Use consistent meanings – Agree with your team on what each colour represents (e.g., red for fall risk, amber for safeguarding concerns) to avoid confusion
• Always add a reason – The reason field helps other team members understand why the flag was set, especially during handovers
• Risk flags persist – Once set, the flag remains visible until someone updates or clears it
• Audit trail – All risk flag changes are logged in the patient's Log tab, showing who made the change and when
• Tooltips provide context – Remind team members they can hover over any flag icon to see the risk reason without opening the patient profile

• Fall risk – Flag patients with high fall risk in red
• Safeguarding – Flag vulnerable patients requiring additional care
• Infection control – Identify patients with isolation requirements
• Clinical complexity – Highlight patients with multiple comorbidities
• Post-incident – Flag patients after a safety incident for increased observation