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Inpatient Covering Letters
The Inpatient Covering Letters feature lets hospital staff generate, edit, save, print, and download covering letters for admitted patients. Letters are created from pre-defined templates where patient details, admission information, and credit company data are automatically filled in. An AI-assisted generation option is also available.
Covering letters are commonly used for:
- Insurance pre-authorisation requests
- Guarantee of Payment (GOP) letters to credit companies
- Referral cover letters
- Medical reports for employers or insurers
- Any formal correspondence linked to an admission
Page: Admission Profile → Clinical Data → Letters
XHTML: /inward/inward_letters.xhtml
Controller: InpatientClinicalDataController / DocumentTemplateController
Privilege: InpatientLetter
- Open the Inpatient Dashboard for the patient (search for the admission and click the patient's record)
- In the Clinical Data panel (third column), click Letters
- The Letters page opens, showing the patient's details at the top, the letter generation panel on the left, and the letter viewer/editor on the right
- On the left panel under Generate New Letter:
- If the patient has one or more credit companies linked to their admission, a Credit Company dropdown appears first — select the relevant credit company (this determines which company details are substituted into the template)
- In the Select Template dropdown, choose the document template that matches the letter you need (e.g. "Insurance Pre-authorisation Letter", "GOP Request Letter", "Medical Report")
- Click the 🔄 Refresh button if new templates have been added and are not yet visible in the list
- Click Generate from Template
- The system substitutes all placeholders in the template with the patient's actual data and the letter appears in the right-hand viewer
- The generated letter is automatically saved and appears in the Saved Letters list on the left
Note: If the Select Template dropdown is empty, no document templates of type "Letter" have been configured. Contact your system administrator to create letter templates under EMR → Settings → Document Templates.
- Optionally select a template from the Select Template dropdown — when a template is selected, the AI uses it as a guide for structure and style
- Optionally select a Credit Company if available
- Click Generate with AI
- The AI analyses the patient's admission data (diagnosis, procedures, medications, allergies, clinical notes) and generates a draft letter
- The letter appears in the viewer and is added to the Saved Letters list
- Review and edit the AI-generated content before printing or downloading
Note: AI generation may take a moment. A loading indicator is shown while the AI is working.
- Select the letter from the Saved Letters list — it appears in the right-hand viewer
- Click Edit (pencil icon) — the viewer switches to an HTML editor
- Make your changes in the editor
- Click Save (floppy disk icon) to save your changes
- Click View (eye icon) to switch back to read-only mode
- Select the letter from the Saved Letters list
- Click Delete (trash icon)
- Click Yes in the confirmation dialog
- The letter is permanently removed
- Select the letter from the Saved Letters list
- Click Print (printer icon)
- The browser's print dialog opens — choose your printer and settings
- The letter is printed with the hospital's letterhead styling
- Select the letter from the Saved Letters list
- Click Download PDF (PDF icon)
- The letter is downloaded to your computer as a PDF file
- Back to Inpatient Dashboard — returns to the patient's admission profile
- Clinical Data — opens the clinical data overview page for this admission
Document templates use placeholders that are automatically replaced with patient data when a letter is generated. Common placeholders include:
| Placeholder | Replaced With |
|---|---|
| Patient name | Patient's full name with title |
| BHT number | The admission's BHT number |
| Age / Sex | Patient's age and gender |
| Admission date | Date the patient was admitted |
| Ward | Name of the ward where the patient is admitted |
| Consultant | Name of the consulting doctor |
| Diagnosis | Primary and secondary diagnoses |
| Credit company name | Name of the selected credit company |
| Policy number | Insurance policy number |
| Current date | Today's date |
Templates are created and managed by system administrators under EMR → Settings → Document Templates. See Admin — Inpatient Form Templates for template configuration.
If a patient's admission is linked to multiple credit companies (e.g., primary insurance and a secondary top-up insurer), the Credit Company dropdown appears at the top of the Generate New Letter panel:
- Select the credit company you are writing to from the dropdown
- Generate the letter — the selected company's name, address, and policy number are substituted into the template
- To generate a letter for a different credit company, simply select a different company from the dropdown and generate again
- Each generated letter is saved separately in the Saved Letters list
Note: If the patient has no credit companies linked, the Credit Company dropdown is hidden and credit-company placeholders in the template are left blank or replaced with a dash.
The Saved Letters list on the left shows all letters previously generated for this admission. Click any letter to view it in the right-hand panel. Letters are identified by the name given at the time of generation (the template name or a custom title).
- Always review AI-generated letters before printing or sending — the AI drafts content based on available clinical data and may need adjustment
- Select the correct credit company before generating a letter — if you generate with the wrong company, delete the letter and generate again with the correct company
- Edit and save before printing to make sure the letter is final
- Use descriptive template names to make it easy for staff to find the right letter type
- After a letter is printed and sent, it remains in the Saved Letters list for future reference
Access to the Letters page requires the InpatientLetter privilege. If the Letters button is not visible in the Clinical Data panel of the Admission Profile, contact your system administrator to have this privilege assigned to your role.
Cause: Your user role does not have the InpatientLetter privilege. Solution: Ask your system administrator to assign this privilege to your role.
Cause: No document templates of type "Letter" have been created, or the templates are retired. Solution: An administrator must create letter templates under EMR → Settings → Document Templates.
Cause: The patient record may be missing the data that the placeholder expects (e.g., no consultant assigned, no diagnosis recorded). Solution: Fill in the missing data on the admission or patient record, then generate the letter again. You can also manually edit the letter after generation.
Cause: The credit company has not been linked to this admission. Solution: Edit the admission's payment details to add the credit company, then return to the Letters page.
Cause: The AI service may be temporarily unavailable or the patient has a very large clinical record. Solution: Wait a moment and try again. If the problem persists, use Generate from Template instead.