Health and Care Numbers for Patients
Practices are asked to make every effort to obtain the patient’s HCN directly from the patient. Patients should show their medical card if they have one, or another form of photographic ID which may provide the correct information for using the HCN search facility to find the patient’s record.
If you are unable to find the HCN using the name and date of birth given by the patient, please check these details again with the patient or their family, i.e. the exact spelling of their name, if they have provided their middle name or nickname rather than their registered forename etc. Following these steps should enable you to find the majority of patient records quickly and easily
There should only be a small number of cases where it is not possible to find the HCN for a patient. If this is the case, you can ring the HCN Helpline where staff will attempt to find the patient’s HCN for you. This service is only available for practices using OCS for claim submission. It will not be possible to find the HCN if the patient is not registered for Health Service treatment or they do not provide the correct information to search for their record. You will be unable to claim GOS payment unless the patient is registered for Health Service treatment.
Patients can request a new medical card by clicking here