What are 'Active' and 'Inactive' Patients?

In CAREFUL, patients can be either "active" or "inactive" based on whether they are currently being cared for by any team in your organisation. Understanding this distinction helps you manage your patient list and find patients who have been discharged.

No special permissions required. All users can view active patients. Viewing inactive patients requires access to the My Organization → Patients tab.

Active Patients

An active patient is being cared for by at least one team in your organisation. This means:

• The patient appears in at least one team's patient list
• The patient may appear in someone's My Patients view (if a team member has taken responsibility)
• The patient is visible by default in the My Organization → Patients tab
• The patient has an assigned status (such as "Admitted", "Discharged", "Deceased") or may have "No Status"

Inactive Patients

An inactive patient has been discharged from all teams in your organisation. This means:

• The patient is not under the care of any team
• The patient does not appear in any team's patient list
• The patient does not appear in any user's My Patients view
• The patient's status is automatically set to "Inactive"

Important distinction: "Active/Inactive" is separate from your organisation's patient status labels (such as "Admitted", "Discharged", or "Deceased").

• Active/Inactive: Determined automatically by team membership
• Patient Status Labels: Custom labels your organisation configures, which can be set manually

Examples

Scenario	Team Membership	Status Label	Active or Inactive?
Patient admitted to ICU	ICU team	"Admitted"	Active
Patient discharged home but under outpatient care	Outpatient team	"Discharged"	Active
Patient deceased but body still on ward	Ward team	"Deceased"	Active
Patient discharged from all teams	No teams	"Inactive"	Inactive

As you can see, a patient can have a status of "Discharged" or "Deceased" and still be active if they remain under the care of at least one team.

When you discharge a patient from their last team, CAREFUL automatically:

1. Removes the patient from that team
2. Sets the patient's status to "Inactive"
3. Removes the patient from all users' My Patients lists

This ensures patients who are no longer receiving care don't clutter your active patient lists.

To view patients who have been discharged from all teams:

1. From the sidebar, select My Organization
2. Click the Patients tab
3. Click the filter dropdown (it shows "Active Patients" by default)
4. Select Inactive

You'll now see all patients who are no longer being cared for by any team in your organisation.

If you need to readmit an inactive patient to a team:

1. Navigate to My Organization → Patients tab
2. Use the filter to view Inactive patients
3. Find the patient in the list and click their name to open their patient view
4. Click the kebab menu (⋮) at the top right
5. Select Readmit patient
6. In the dialog box that appears:
   • Select the team you want to readmit the patient to (you can only readmit to teams you're a member of)
   • Optionally select a new patient status (defaults to "No Status")
7. Click Save

The patient is now active again and will appear in the selected team's patient list.

Alternative Readmission Methods

You can also readmit an inactive patient:

• From a Team View: Select a team from the sidebar → click the kebab menu (⋮) → Add patient → search for the patient by name or hospital number
• From the Main Menu: Click Teams in the sidebar → select a team → use the kebab menu → Add patient

• Default view shows active patients: When you first open My Organization → Patients, you see active patients only. This keeps your working list focused on current patients.
• Inactive patients retain their history: All notes, actions, and audit logs remain intact when a patient becomes inactive. You can view this history by opening the patient's record.
• Cannot manually set Inactive status: You cannot manually change a patient's status to "Inactive". This status is automatically applied when discharging from the last team.
• Readmission preserves data: When you readmit a patient, all their historical data (demographics, notes, past actions) is immediately available.