Glossary

A–C

Age band
One of the three age groups a symptom can have separate cards for: Under 5, 5–17 and Adult. Each card shows its age badge, and staff can filter by age. The advice can differ between bands, so each band’s card is reviewed on its own. See Age groups.

Age-group variant
Alternative wording for a particular age band, shown as a clickable chip on a card before or after the main instructions. A practice can use the shared variants, customise them or hide them. Not the same as an age band: variants sit inside a single card. See Cards.

AI customisation
An optional AI tool that rewrites your cards using your practice questionnaire, so they use your appointment names and booking routes. Rewritten cards go to Pending for clinical review. See Customise your cards.

Approved
A card whose current wording a clinical reviewer has checked and approved for your practice. Editing it again sends it back to Pending. See Working through the queue.

Audit tab
The tab in Manage handbook that lists who changed what in the Practice Handbook, and when. See Practice Handbook.

Brief instruction
The one-line routing summary at the top of a card, such as where to send the patient. See Reading a card.

Built-in highlights
Colours the toolkit used to apply to colour-slot wording (“green slot”, “orange slot”, “red slot”) and the words “pink” and “purple” for every practice. Now retired: practices whose cards use colour-slot wording have highlight rules of their own for it instead. See Highlights and buttons.

Card
The guidance for one symptom (and, where your practice uses age bands, one age band): its name, brief instruction, any important notice and the full instructions. Also called a symptom.

Category editor
A standard user named under Who can edit on a Practice Handbook category. They look after it: they can add pages and lists to it and its subcategories, edit them, show them in the other categories they look after, and always see them, but can’t change the handbook settings or delete pages. See Letting a team look after a category.

Changes requested
A review status meaning a reviewer found something to fix and left a note. The card stays visible to staff unless the reviewer also disabled it. See Working through the queue.

Clinical Review
The tab in Signposting settings where clinical reviewers check, edit and approve cards, or request changes. Only practice admins can open it. See Clinical reviewer guide.

Custom symptom
A card your practice created itself, rather than one from the shared library. Admins see it marked Practice Created, and it’s only visible to your practice. See Cards.

Customised card
A shared card your practice has changed for local use. Admins see it marked Practice Customised. Your changes don’t affect other practices. Also called an override.

D–H

Default practice
The practice an account lands on after signing in. The AI tools also check whether a feature is switched on at this practice. See Roles and permissions.

Disabled (switched off)
A card your practice has switched off, so staff don’t see it. New cards start switched off. Disabling a card is not approval and doesn’t change its review status. See Cards.

Engagement tab
The tab in Signposting settings that shows how often cards are viewed, which are viewed most and least, and when. The Practice Handbook and workflows have their own engagement views. See Analytics and engagement.

Handbook editor
A standard user allowed to edit a particular Practice Handbook item, by being named under Who can edit in its editor or because the item is set to All standard users can edit. Practice admins can edit every item. See Practice Handbook.

Hidden card
A shared card your practice has taken out of its library with Hide symptom for practice. It moves to the Available folder in the Symptom Library, where Enable at this surgery brings it back.

High-risk button
One of the red buttons at the top of the signposting page that open urgent symptoms, such as Stroke or Sepsis, in one click. See High-risk and quick access buttons.

Highlight rule
A phrase your practice chooses to show in colour wherever it appears in a card, such as an appointment name. Highlights change how a card looks, not its wording or review status. See Highlights and buttons.

I–P

Image icon
A small picture shown on a card when its brief instruction contains a trigger phrase, such as a pharmacy icon. The Signposting Toolkit team manages the icons; practice admins can switch all image icons off or on for their practice.

Important notice
A highlighted notice shown above a card’s instructions, for something staff must not miss. See Reading a card.

Improved wording
An optional AI tool, Suggest improved wording (AI), that suggests clearer wording for a card. Only practice admins can apply it, and applying it sends the card to Pending. See AI tools.

Module access
The page in Practice settings that shows which optional features your practice has, and where admins switch AI tools on or off for individual staff. See Optional features.

Needs attention
The list at the top of the Practice Handbook settings of pages to check: problems reported by staff, reviews due, empty pages, and pages nobody has opened in 90 days. See Needs attention.

On-take rota
The weekly record of which GP is on take, kept in the Practice Handbook. The current week’s GP is shown in the pinned panel. See Practice Handbook.

Pending
A review status meaning the card’s current wording hasn’t been approved yet. A switched-on pending card is still shown to staff, with a warning. See Clinical governance.

Pinned panel
The panel at the bottom of Practice Handbook pages showing the on-take GP and other everyday information, such as the task buddy system and post route. Each person can collapse it; it opens again when the on-take GP changes.

Practice admin
The role that manages a practice’s cards, clinical review, settings and staff. Clinical reviewers need this role. See Roles and permissions.

Practice Handbook
An optional module for your practice’s own procedures, contacts, lists and rota. Previously called the Admin Toolkit. See Practice Handbook.

Practice questionnaire
The questions you answer during setup about your appointments, team and local services. AI customisation uses the answers. See Describe your practice.

Practice settings
The menu item for practice-wide administration: Users & access, Module access, Setup & onboarding, Analytics, and the Practice Handbook and Workflow Guidance admin pages if you have them. Practice admins only. See Running your toolkit.

Q–S

Quick access button
One of up to six optional shortcut buttons under the high-risk buttons, for your practice’s most common reasons for contact. The Practice Handbook has its own quick access buttons for handbook pages. See High-risk and quick access buttons.

Related symptom links
Links on a card to other cards that are often relevant at the same time, shown in a Related Information panel. See Reading a card.

Request re-review
A Clinical Review action, in the More review actions menu, that sets every reviewed card in your practice back to Pending. Rarely needed: editing a card already sends it back. See Working through the queue.

Review reminder
How often a Practice Handbook page should be checked, from every 3 months to every 2 years. When a review is due, staff see Review due under the page’s title, and it’s listed in Needs attention. See Review reminders.

Sample preview
Up to five example cards drafted during AI customisation, to check the approach before generating your cards. Samples aren’t saved and don’t change any card.

Setup checklist
The guided list of setup tasks, opened from Setup & onboarding in Practice settings. Once setup is finished, or your practice has gone live, it becomes Surgery Health. See Setup checklist and Surgery Health.

Shared card
A card from the shared library that the Signposting Toolkit team maintains for every practice. Each practice adapts it locally. Also called a base card.

Signposting settings
The menu item for managing your cards and signposting page, with the tabs Symptom Library, Clinical Review, Highlight Config, High-Risk Buttons, Quick Access, Engagement and Suggestions. Practice admins only. See Running your toolkit.

Signposting Toolkit team
The central team that runs the toolkit, maintains the shared library and switches optional features on. In the app they are system administrators.

Single all-ages mode
An option, switched on by the Signposting Toolkit team, where your practice has one card per symptom for every age, with no age filter or badges. Age-specific advice goes inside the card. See Age groups.

Smart visual
An AI-built, scannable version of a card or handbook page, with red flags, routing choices and key facts laid out for a quick read. For cards, staff see it only after the card is approved, and the written instructions stay the source of truth. See Smart visuals and suggested questions.

Standard User
The everyday role for reception and care-navigation staff. They can use the toolkit and send feedback but not change cards or settings. See Roles and permissions.

Suggested questions
An optional AI tool, Get Questions to Ask, that suggests questions to ask the caller from a card’s wording. They are shown only to the person who asked, aren’t saved and aren’t clinically reviewed. See Smart visuals and suggested questions.

Surgery Health
What the setup checklist becomes once setup is finished or your practice is live: an overview of review work outstanding, recent use and content. See Setup checklist and Surgery Health.

T–Z

Template for new pages
What new pages in a Practice Handbook category start with, such as the headings every page should cover. A subcategory uses its parent’s template unless it has its own or none. Previously called a starter template. See Templates for new pages.

Unpublished changes
Changes to a published workflow’s steps that staff don’t see yet. They wait in a working copy until an admin chooses Publish changes, or Discard changes to go back to the published version. See Workflows.

Users & access
The page in Practice settings where practice admins add staff, set roles and reset passwords. See Team and access.

What’s changed
A page, opened from the signposting page, listing cards newly added or updated and approved in the last 14 days (or since a date the Signposting Toolkit team sets for your practice). The Practice Handbook has its own, which counts the changes each person hasn’t seen yet (see What’s changed). See Cards.

Workflow
A step-by-step flowchart in Workflow Guidance, for tasks such as processing a discharge letter. Staff see a workflow only once an admin has published it. See Workflows.