# Referral Follow Up

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/referrals/referral-follow-up

> Assign, update, archive, and convert referrals from the referral register.

Astalty Premium - This feature is part of the Astalty Premium plan. See What Premium includes.

## Overview

Open an entry from the [Referrals register](https://app.astalty.com.au/referrals) to update its status and details, assign it to a team member, link it to an existing Participant, create a Participant, or export it.

By default, only Admins and Managers can view and update referrals. An assignee, or someone who can access the linked form submission, may also be able to view an individual referral.

![The Referral Details page for a New referral, with the Actions and Edit buttons at the top right above the Reference, Status, Assignee, Source and Details, and the submitted form answers below under Participant Details.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-menu.png)

The **Referral Details** card shows the referral's **Reference**, **Status**, **Assignee**, **Source**, Participant association, and follow-up **Details**. Click the Reference to copy it.

![The Referral Details card showing Reference, Status, Assignee and Source fields, with Source set to Social Media highlighted](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-details-source.png)

## Available Actions

Use **Actions** to **Update Status**, **Assign Existing Participant**, **Create New Participant**, or **Export as PDF**. The Participant actions only appear while the referral is not already linked to a Participant.

## Status Update

Use **Actions > Update Status**. Available transitions depend on the current status:

- **New** moves to **Under Review**.
- **Under Review** can move to **Accepted**, **Declined**, or **Waitlist**.
- **Waitlist** can move to **Accepted** or **Declined**.
- **Accepted** moves to **Completed**.
- **Declined** or **Completed** can be moved to Under Review, Accepted, Declined, Completed, or Waitlist.

![The Update Referral Status dialog showing the current status is New and asking to confirm the update to Under Review, with Cancel and Update to Under Review buttons.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/under-review.png)

![The Update Referral Status dialog for a referral that is Under Review, asking whether to accept or decline the referral or add it to the waitlist, with Cancel, Decline, Add to Waitlist and Accept buttons.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/y-n-referra.png)

![The Update Referral Status dialog showing the current status is Accepted and asking to confirm the update to Completed, with Cancel and Update to Completed buttons.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/completed-r.png)

![The Update Referral Status dialog for a Completed referral, with the Select a new status dropdown open showing Under Review, Accepted, Declined, Completed and Waitlist.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/status-update.png)

## Creating or Assigning a Participant

Select **Actions > Create New Participant** to create a Participant from mapped referral answers. Astalty warns you when the submitted first and last name match an existing active Participant.

![The Referral Details page for a Completed referral with the Actions menu open, showing Assign Existing Participant (1) and Create New Participant (2) below Update Status.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-create-participant-1755233700.png)

Select **Actions > Assign Existing Participant** to link the submission to an existing Participant. The submission then appears on the Participant's **Forms** page.

![A Participant profile's Forms page with the Form Submissions card highlighted, listing a Participant Referral Form submission with its Submitted At date.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/assigned-participant.png)

> **Copying form answers onto the Participant's profile**
>
> By default, the Assign Existing Participant action links the form to the Participant's profile without changing any of their details. To also copy the submitted answers onto their profile, tick the update option in the Assign Participant drawer - see [Updating an Existing Participant's Profile from a Referral](#updating-an-existing-participants-profile-from-a-referral).

## Duplicate Participant Warning

If the first name and last name submitted on a referral match an existing Participant, a warning appears on the Referral Details card so you can avoid creating a duplicate profile: *"A participant named ... already exists and may match this referral"*. The same warning appears inside the Create New Participant dialog. Archived Participants are not matched.

![The Referral Details card with a yellow warning saying a participant named Bernice Hudson already exists and may match this referral, and an Assign to existing participant button below it.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-duplicate-participant-warning.png)

Click **Assign to existing participant** to open the Assign Participant drawer with the matching Participant already selected.

## Updating an Existing Participant's Profile from a Referral

When you assign a referral to an existing Participant - via **Actions → Assign Existing Participant**, or via **Assign to existing participant** on the duplicate warning - you can also copy the submitted answers onto the Participant's profile.

In the Assign Participant drawer, tick **Update the participant's profile with this form's mapped fields**. A preview lists every mapped field, showing the Participant's current value struck through next to the incoming value from the form, or *(no change)* where the two already match.

![The Assign Participant drawer with Bernice Hudson selected and the option to update their profile with the form's mapped fields ticked. Fields that will be updated (8 of 8) lists each field with its own ticked checkbox, current values struck through beside the new ones.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-assign-participant-update-fields-guide.png)

Each field has its own checkbox, and all fields are ticked by default - untick any value you don't want copied. Clicking **Assign Participant** then links the submission to the Participant and updates their profile with the ticked values.

A referral can update the following profile fields (where the form has an answer for them): first, middle and last name, preferred name, email, date of birth, NDIS number, gender, sex, phone, mobile, preferred language, and primary and secondary diagnosis.

> **What is never changed**
>
> Blank answers on the form never overwrite existing data on the Participant's profile, and gender or sex answers that don't match one of Astalty's options are skipped. Residential address, plan dates, and documents are not copied when updating an existing Participant - they are only used when creating a new Participant from a referral.

> **Also available on form submissions**
>
> The same update option is available when assigning any form submission with mapped fields to a Participant from **Forms**, via [Actions → Assign to Participant](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/forms/manage-forms/submissions#assigning-a-form-to-a-participant).

## Recording Referral Follow Up Information

Click **Edit** to change **Assigned To**, **Source** or **Details**, then click **Update Referral**. Assigning a referral sends a notification to the assignee.

![The Update Referral panel with Assigned To and Source fields, the Source field set to Social Media highlighted, above the Details editor](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-update-source.png)

> **Get nudged about stalled referrals**
>
> Set up a [Referral Follow Up Notification](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/notifications/referral-follow-up-notifications) to alert your team automatically when a referral has been sitting in the same status for too long.

> **Track follow-up work as Action Items**
>
> Record what needs to happen after a referral, who is doing it and by when on the **Action Items** card. See [Action Items](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/action-items). Action Items are in beta.

## Archiving a Referral

You can archive a referral while its status is **New**, **Under Review**, **Waitlist**, or **Declined**. Click **Edit**, then **Archive**. Use the **Archived** filter in the register to find it later and click **Unarchive** to restore it.

Accepted and Completed referrals cannot be archived from the update panel. Referrals do not have a permanent delete action.

## Printing a Referral with Summary & Details

You can export a Referral as a PDF directly from the **Referrals Register**, with the **Referral Summary** and **Details** (completed during the referral acceptance process) automatically included in the document.

To export a Referral:

1. Navigate to the **Referrals Register** from the main menu.
2. Select the relevant **Referral**.
3. Click **Actions**.
4. Choose **Export as PDF**.

![The Referral Details page for an Accepted referral with the Actions button highlighted and an arrow pointing to Export as PDF in its menu.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-export-1.png)

The generated PDF will include the full Referral information, along with the Summary and Details section, ensuring all key information is captured in a single, shareable document.

> **Exporting multiple referrals at once**
>
> To bulk export referrals as an Excel spreadsheet or PDFs - for example, a complete set for an audit - use the [Referrals Export](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/exports/referrals-export) on the Exports page.

![The exported referral PDF, headed Referral, with a Referral Summary showing Status, Participant, Assignee and Created At, followed by the Details and the submitted answers under Participant Details.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/referral-form-1-1772167975.png)