A representative is someone who uses the patient portal on a patient's behalf, such as a parent of a child under 16, or a carer or attorney for an adult. They sign in with their own email address, so the patient's own login stays private.
Representative access is part of the patient portal, which is included on the Solo, Clinic and Practice plans. Owners, managers and practitioners can add and remove representatives; receptionists can't.
Add a representative
- Open the patient's profile and click Show more at the bottom of the right-hand column.
- In the Portal access — representatives card, click Add.
- Fill in:
- Full name and Email
- Relationship: Parent, Guardian, Carer, Attorney (LPA) or Court-appointed deputy
- Legal authority: Parental responsibility, Power of attorney or Deputyship
- Evidence checked (optional): for example, what you saw to confirm their authority
- Click Add representative.
Atlacare doesn't email the representative when you add them, so let them know. They go to your portal sign-in page, enter the email address you added, and get a sign-in link.
What a representative sees
To start with, a representative has Admin only access: appointments, reminders, forms, invoices and exercise plans. They don't see clinical notes or the patient's message thread.
Give clinical access
If it's right for the representative to see clinical information too, a clinician clicks Grant clinical and records why it's appropriate (for example, the patient's competence or consent). The representative then shows Admin + clinical. Click Remove clinical to take it away again at any time.
Only clinicians can grant clinical access. Anyone who can manage representatives can remove it.
Remove access
Click Revoke on the representative and, if you like, note a reason. They can't sign in on the patient's behalf from then on.
Rules Atlacare applies for you
- At 11: when a child turns 11, any clinical access granted earlier goes back to admin only. Clinical access for an 11 to 15-year-old needs a fresh decision.
- At 16: representative access for a child ends, and the young person can have their own portal login. See who can have a patient portal.
- Safeguarding: if the patient has a safeguarding flag, you can't add representatives, and existing ones can't sign in until a clinician reviews the record.
Every change (added, clinical access granted or removed, revoked) is recorded in your clinic's audit log.