A shared phone number should not combine patient records

Two people in a household use the same phone number. The receptionist searches that number and sees two records. Both results may be legitimate. The number helps locate possible matches, but it does not identify which person is standing at the desk.

Keep each patient's record distinct and use the hospital's agreed identity checks. Do not change a real contact number merely to satisfy an assumption that every patient must have a unique phone.

Confirm the person behind the search result

Ask the patient to provide the identifiers your hospital uses, rather than reading private details aloud from the first result and asking them to agree. Compare enough information to establish the intended record under your procedure.

The WHO identification guidance recommends using at least two identifiers. A shared contact is a reason to apply that check carefully, not evidence that one family member's record is a duplicate of another's.

A fictional example is a parent and adult child who both give the parent's number for administrative contact. Their visits and bills still belong to different people. A search result listing both should prompt a person check before reception opens an attendance.

Establish how contact is permitted

Ask which number or route the patient wants staff to use and follow the hospital's procedure for recording communication permission. Someone answering the household phone may not be authorised to hear a billing explanation or receive a record copy.

Keep sensitive information out of a message unless the authorised procedure permits that disclosure through the agreed route. Record an administrative attempt accurately: no answer, intended person reached or another outcome that actually occurred. The contact attempt log keeps that work traceable without becoming a second contact database.

Correct the contact without rewriting identity

If the number changes, use the demographic correction process and preserve the reason for the update. Do not use a new number as grounds to create a new patient or to merge the old record with somebody else's.

When staff cannot establish which record belongs to the person, refer the discrepancy to the authorised records lead. Leave the uncertain relationship visible until the evidence resolves it.