General practice software: following a patient for years, not one visit at a time
General practice software is judged on how clearly it shows a patient's years, not only today's visit: the conditions they live with, the tablets they take every month, the screening they are due for, and whether this spring's blood pressure beats last autumn's. This guide covers what a family doctor's record should hold, one review visit in OPALEVI, and where OPALEVI stops.
Key takeaways
- In family medicine the part of the record that matters outlives the consultation: long-term conditions, repeat medication with its review date, and when the patient is next due.
- Numbers taken at every visit should become lines across years: OPALEVI charts blood pressure, weight and glucose from each visit's vital signs.
- OPALEVI records SCORE2 as you read it off the chart and adds up AUDIT-C; it calculates no risk and judges no score.
- Recall and review dates are recorded on the visit, but OPALEVI does not yet turn them into a list or a reminder: book the next appointment before the patient leaves.
Why family medicine outgrows the paper file and the plain visit note
A specialist sees a problem; a family doctor sees a person, often for decades. The hard part is everything around the consultation, and that is where a paper file or one notes box fails:
- The problem list has no place of its own. Hypertension and an old thyroid problem appear in one letter and vanish from the next.
- Nobody knows when the tablets were last reviewed. The same prescription runs for two years; the review date lived in someone's head.
- Recall depends on the diary. Who is due for a lipid profile or a cervical screening is not something a visit list answers.
- The pressure lives in sentences. Seeing whether 148/92 has come down means opening every visit in turn.
- “Examination normal” hides what was skipped. A normal abdomen and an unexamined one read the same in prose.
A general practice record is a line through a patient's ordinary numbers and decisions, drawn across years rather than written once per visit.
What a general practice record should hold over the years
Before comparing products, agree what every review must capture. The list works on paper or in any program:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Long-term conditions | Why this person is a patient; each shapes every later consultation. |
| Problem list | Open questions in the doctor's words, apart from today's complaint. |
| Repeat medication and its review date | What is taken regularly, and the day someone must look at it again. |
| Immunisation status and the last vaccine | Gaps show only if the last dose and its date are written. |
| Screening due and the recall date | Who is due for what, and when they are asked back. |
| Cardiovascular risk with its chart | A risk figure means little without the chart it came from. |
| Lifestyle and alcohol use | Diet, activity, alcohol and sleep, and which of them advice was given on. |
| Blood pressure, weight and glucose at every visit | Typed once per visit, they become the trend. |
| Referral letter | Who the patient was sent to, how urgently and with which question. |
Records, not recommendations
A program should keep what the doctor ticked, typed and measured, and stop there. Which screening a patient needs, and what a risk figure means, are clinical decisions.
A long-term condition review, step by step, in OPALEVI
A morning in OPALEVI for private practices: a patient with newly raised blood pressure returns for review. Words in bold are on-screen labels.
A slot in the diary
Reception enters the review under Add appointment, with the box Email the patient a reminder the day before ticked. Walk-ins come in from Today through Walk-in patient (no appointment).
The nurse's measurements
The nurse types weight, height, temperature, oxygen, glucose, pulse and both pressures under Vital signs; BMI is calculated. Mark ready for the doctor tells the clinician.
Last time, at a glance
The Previous visits panel lists earlier visits with diagnosis and therapy, each a click away. The consultation goes into the Doctor's report.
The continuing-care record
Under Continuing care, tick the Long-term conditions, write the Problem list and the Current medication, and choose the Medication review due date.
Prevention and risk
Under Prevention and recall, set the Immunisation status, tick each Screening due and choose the Recall due date. From 40 to 89, Cardiovascular risk takes SCORE2 from the chart.
Prescribe and finish
Fill in the Prescription, add a Referral letter if needed, and press Finish the visit; Print prescription and Print referral letter wait in the header.
One honest note: each new visit opens with the continuing-care section empty. OPALEVI copies nothing forward, and each earlier visit keeps its own list: the doctor opens the last visit from Previous visits and writes today's list as it stands.
The general practice tools: trends, SCORE2, AUDIT-C and the body systems
Blood pressure, weight and glucose across visits
Under Measurements across visits, OPALEVI draws Blood pressure across visits, Weight across visits and Glucose across visits from the vitals of this patient's visits in the department. Today's point appears as it is typed; a chart needs two measurements. It plots what was entered: no target line, no band, no arrow.
SCORE2, typed from the chart
SCORE2 10-year risk is the percentage you read from the ESC chart (SCORE2-OP from 70) and type in, with the ESC risk region of that chart. OPALEVI stores it as entered and does not calculate it: a percent from one wrong coefficient would look as plausible as a right one. It is asked from 40 to 89, the ages the charts cover.
Lifestyle and AUDIT-C
Lifestyle marks diet, activity, alcohol and sleep as No concern or Needs change, ticks Advice given separately, and takes weekly activity minutes and hours of sleep. Alcohol use asks how often, from 12. From 16, AUDIT-C (alcohol use) asks the WHO's three consumption questions; OPALEVI adds up the total (0 to 12) and counts the answered items. What the score means stays the doctor's call: no cut-off is shown, nothing is flagged. Treatment itself, with programmes and drug tests, is covered in addiction treatment software.
Examination by system and the body map
Body systems lists eleven systems, from general appearance to mental state, each Normal, Abnormal or Not examined. The finding itself is written once, in the report; the grid answers whether the abdomen was examined at all. Examination map places numbered findings on a body figure: front, back, both sides, face, backs of the hands and palms.
Referrals, results, invoices and who reads what
- Referrals out. The Referral letter names the addressee and the Urgency and states your question with the supporting findings; the visit's diagnosis and therapy are appended. Where a clinic runs several departments, Refer to a department also sends an internal request for the receiving team to book. The urology guide shows the receiving side of one common referral, a rising PSA.
- Results. If the clinic's own laboratory works in OPALEVI, tests are requested under Analyses. Outside laboratories have no connection: write the request under Tests and examinations and attach their PDF under Visit documents.
- Invoices. Invoices are on from registration, and Invoice this visit bills the consultation. A practice that does not invoice turns them off under Application menus in Settings.
- Privacy. In a one-department practice, Record privacy offers Automatic (anyone who works there) or Only the clinician the record is assigned to; administrators can always read it.
- Reception. The desk books, admits and takes payment, but reads no visit history unless the practice turns on Reception may see patients' visit history; finance has no access to clinical records at all. The desk's day is covered in clinic reception software.
Questions to ask before choosing general practice software
Ask them of any vendor, us too, and test the answers during a trial with a dozen of your long-term patients.
| Question | What a good answer looks like | OPALEVI |
|---|---|---|
| Are long-term conditions and the problem list kept apart from today's notes? | Their own fields, not a paragraph. | Yes: Active problems, recorded at each visit. |
| Does the next visit open with the last one's problem list? | Clarity about what is copied and what is shown. | No: nothing is copied; earlier visits are shown beside the record. |
| Does it list who is due for recall? | A list of who is due, by date. | No: the dates are recorded but not listed or reminded yet. |
| Is blood pressure charted across years? | A trend of each visit's readings. | Yes, with weight and glucose. |
| Does it calculate cardiovascular risk? | A clear statement of what it calculates. | No: SCORE2 is typed from the chart, with its region. |
| Are alcohol questionnaires scored? | Items answered one by one, the total added up. | Yes: AUDIT-C, a sum without a band. |
| Do outside laboratory results arrive by themselves? | A tested connection, or a clear file route. | Partly: only from the clinic's own laboratory in OPALEVI; others are attached files. |
| Can patients be reminded of the appointment? | A reminder sent before the day. | Yes: an email the day before, ticked at booking. |
| Will next year's bill be predictable? | A price that grows only with the team. | Yes: per staff member, whatever the number of patients. |
See the pricing page for today's price and the features page for the modules. Diabetes and thyroid follow-up get more depth in endocrinology software, and dispensing at a clinic's own pharmacy in pharmacy software; the wider buying checklist is in how to choose clinic software.
A first week with general practice in OPALEVI
Setting up takes an afternoon; the first week shows whether it fits. First steps on Today ticks itself off as you go.
Register the practice
Register as a private practice, or as a clinic if several doctors share the building, and tick general practice; see the general practice department page.
Prices and paper
Add your services and prices: a starter list (consultation, follow-up, medical report) waits to be renamed and priced. Then Set up the report letterhead.
Add the team
Invite your colleagues with a role each, then choose whether the desk may read visit history.
Start with the reviews
Book this week's long-term reviews first; from each patient's second visit, the charts have a line.
Book the recall while the patient is in the room
The recall date sends nothing by itself, so book that appointment at the desk the same day; the email the day before does the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is general practice software?
A program that keeps a family doctor's records structured across years: long-term conditions, the problem list, repeat medication and its review date, immunisations, screening and recall dates, charted vital signs, prescriptions and referral letters. Visits compare and print; judgement stays with the doctor.
Does OPALEVI remind patients when they are due for a review or screening?
Not from the recall date itself. Recall due, Medication review due and Screening due are recorded and printed, but create no list, task or message yet. The appointment is what reminds: book the review, tick the email reminder, and the patient is emailed the day before.
Can reception see clinical notes?
Not unless the practice allows it. The desk books, registers walk-ins, invoices and takes payment, while visit history stays closed until a practice setting opens it. Finance staff never read clinical records, and Record privacy can limit records to the clinician they are assigned to.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. OPALEVI is a web program: any current browser on a laptop, tablet or phone opens it, and nothing is installed. Phones get a bottom navigation bar in place of the top menu, which makes checking a patient's last pressure or medication during a home visit straightforward. Vets write whole visits that way in a farmyard (exotic and farm animal veterinary software).
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. Registering as a private practice opens a free trial with no card asked for. Use it on real reviews: record a few long-term patients, print a prescription and a report, watch the charts form. When a trial ends without a plan, nothing is charged and the records remain open to read.
What does OPALEVI cost a general practice?
By the seat: one for each staff member with an active account, so a doctor with a nurse and a receptionist pays for three. Patients, visits and printed reports never change the bill, and paying for a year lowers the monthly rate. The current price is on the pricing page.
