Retention

This page is for coordinators, registered managers and owners. It covers the retention review, what each column means, and how an owner destroys a record once it is due.

What the report is

“Retention” is described as “Clients whose care has ended, and when each record may be destroyed.”

Every client whose care has ended appears here, whether or not their record has been removed from the working list. Records are kept for eight years from the end of care, then reviewed.

This report has no date range. It is a picture of where every ended record stands today.

The columns

The card is headed “Ended care”, described as “Records are kept eight years from the end of care, then reviewed. Only the owner can destroy one, and only once it is due.”

Column	What it means
“Client”	The person. A record still on the working list opens their record. A removed one carries a “Removed” badge and opens the removed shelf on the client list, where “Restore” lives.
“Care ended”	The date care ended. Removing a client sets this to that day unless a date was already recorded.
“Kept until”	Eight years after care ended, or a child’s 25th birthday (26th if they were 17) when that is later. A child’s row reads “A child’s record: kept to their 25th birthday” under the date.
“Status”	“Kept” while the eight years run, or “Due for review” in red once they are up.

Care plan reviews overdue

Above the list, in red when it is not zero: “3 care plan reviews are overdue. The alerts shelf names the clients.” Each one is also a row on the alerts shelf naming the client. Marking the plan reviewed on the client’s Care plan tab clears it.

Filters

• The search box narrows by client name.
• The status box narrows to “Due for review”, “Kept”, or “All”.

Destroying a record

Only the owner sees the destruction door, and only on a row whose status is “Due for review”. Other rows say the date the record is kept until, so a missing button never reads as a fault.

1. Click “Destroy record” on the row.
2. The dialog is headed with the client’s name and says “Every entry about this person is deleted for good: visits, medication, care plan, incidents and their photo. The trail and a destruction log stay. This cannot be undone.”
3. Fill in “Why”, for example that it is the year’s retention review. At least five characters are required.
4. Click “Destroy for good”, or “Keep the record” to stop.

The platform refuses the request outright if the eight years have not run, whatever the screen shows.

What goes and what stays

Goes: the client’s own record, their visits and the doorstep history on them, medication records and answers, care plan and tasks, assessments, away from home ranges, who to ring, documents and their files, care team entries, incidents, and their photo. Removed entries go too.

Stays: the audit trail, and a destruction log row saying what was deleted, how much of it, when, by whom and why.

Consider exporting the record first if you may still need it. See Exporting and removing.

Export CSV

“Export CSV” writes the rows on screen with these columns:

client, care_ended_on, retain_until, rule (adult or child), due, removed_at

This is the list an inspector asks for when they want to see that retention is actually being reviewed.