Merge Letter Templates

The template maintenance is accessed from Maintain Lists.

You will need to log into Docman as a user with the permission to access the Maintain Lists section. This can be the default ADMIN user or any other user with access to Maintain Lists.

Click Settings on the Docman main menu, then click Maintain Lists.

From the Maintain Lists screen, click the Merge Templates option on the bottom left - scroll down the list of options if required.

In this example, a template will be created for a letter confirming normal test results.

Type the surgery address on the top right of the template. Note that the options on the top of the screen are similar to the options on word processors such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. Text can be aligned to the right hand side of the letter template by using the Right Justify option.

Press Enter to add a line break and click Left Justify to align the next part of text with the left hand side of the letter template.

Click the Mail Merge tab.

Following a formal letter layout, the addressee's details appear next. These details change depending on which patient the letter relates to.

The Insert Merge Field drop-down is located under the Mail Merge tab. To add a merge field to the template, click the Insert Merge Field button.

Available merge fields are County, Current Date, Current Time, DOB (Date of Birth), Email, Forename, Home Telephone, House (house name), Locality, Login User (the name of the user logged in when a merge template is used), Mobile, NHS Number, No / Road (house number and street name), Postcode, Reg GP, Reg Status, Surname, Title, Town and Usual GP.

Using the merge fields, add the recipient's name and address. Insert the Current Date field afterwards.

Note: Remember to add spaces between the merge fields.

Complete the template using Insert Merge Field and free text (for example, "I am pleased to confirm in writing that your test results were normal").

Docman prompts for a name for the new template. Enter an appropriate name for the new template and click OK.

Docman returns to the template configuration. Close this to return to the Maintain Lists screen.

Templates may be edited to add, amend or remove information. Templates are also deleted using the Edit screen.

In this example, the merge template created in the Adding a Template guide will be edited to refer to the patient by their first name, instead of their title and surname.

To edit a template, highlight the template and click Edit.

The template opens in the Edit screen. This screen can be used to edit the text of a template, in the same way that text is edited in word processors.

Delete the existing merge fields using the Backspace keyboard button, and then click Insert Merge Field and select Forename.

To save the changes to the template, click Save.

A prompt appears stating that the changes have been saved. Click OK and then close the template editing screen to return to Maintain Lists - Merge Templates.

Note: To delete a template, follow the same process to access the template and select the Delete option under the Mail Merge tab. Docman prompts for confirmation, then deletes the template.

Templates may be exported from the Merge Templates section and saved as Word documents. This allows users to distribute their templates to other Docman surgeries, potentially allowing a collective of practices to use a standardised set of templates.

 

Note: A change in the template format means that old templates are not carried over to 75500.3. If any templates on a pre-75500.3 site need to be saved, it is recommended that they are exported to Word and imported after the update is performed. To view more information on the changes to merge Templates in 75500.3, click here.

 

To export a template, highlight the template and click Edit.

The Edit screen opens, displaying the template. Hold the CTRL key on the keyboard and press A to highlight the entire template, and then click the Copy button.

Open a blank document in Word or any other word processor that can save Word file types (.doc .rtf or .docx). Click Paste, and save the file.

Templates can be based on an existing document in .rtf or .doc format. In the following example, the document already exists as an .rtf file and is located on the desktop.

Click Mail Merge, then click the Import option.

Docman imports the document into the template.

At this stage, the template has no merge fields. The existing patient data from the imported document must be replaced with merge fields before it can be used for other patients.

To replace plain text with merge fields, delete the text and use the Insert Merge Field drop-down menu to select the merge fields.

When the template is complete, with patient data changed to merge fields, click Save.

Docman prompts for a name for the new template. Enter an appropriate name for the new template and click OK.

Docman returns to the template configuration. Close this to return to the Maintain Lists screen.