Finding a patient

To find a patient quickly, follow these steps.

By NHS number

The easiest way to find a matching result is to enter the patient’s 10-digit NHS number. For example, 485 777 3456.

If the patient needs to find their number, refer them to Find your NHS number.

By demographics

Enter at least the patient’s first name, last name and date of birth. However, entering all 5 fields will increase your chances of finding an exact match immediately.

By local records

Local records are vaccinations saved in RAVS. Enter at least the first and last name to find a matching record.

Search tips

Patients’ names and postcodes are frequently misspelt or misentered.

Make sure you ask the patient to:

• spell their name, for example, Catherine could be Katherine, or Smith could be Smyth
• confirm their previous postcode if they have recently moved

If a patient is homeless, enter the postcode ZZ99 3VZ to find them.

If you cannot find a match

You can create a new patient if you’ve tried searching by their NHS number and demographics and you’re confident there is no existing patient record.

If your demographic search returns no results, the opportunity to create a new patient will appear.

Important: Adding duplicate records unnecessarily could result in incorrect or delayed patient care.

Once you have entered all required fields to create a new patient record, you can save it to RAVS and find it by searching your local records.