We are excited to share with you the details of the Merlin V81 release which includes new features that will greatly improve the user experience, largely focused on saving you time by offering more seamless, user-friendly workflows.

The highlight of this release are the 10 small enhancements that have been requested by our users and prioritised based on delivering user value – focusing on improving workflows, making them quicker and smoother and saving you time. We will continue to listen to our users and deliver further small changes, offering you increased value through Merlin over the coming months. To hear more about these changes, go to the Highlights – ‘Small Enhancements’ section.

Some other enhancements include changes to repeat prescriptions and pharmacy treatments, plus a number of other bugs have been fixed – see section, ‘We have also fixed’. 

Small enhancements

Please view the short video for more information on the ten small enhancements as part of this release.

1) Bulk renewal of Healthcare Plans

Within the Healthcare Plans renewal page, a 'select all' button has been added alongside other buttons in the header. This means that when you want to renew Healthcare Plans, select the button 'Assign action' and renew multiple plans in bulk, as opposed to having to do them one by one.

2) Set default text to labels – such as ‘For external use only’

We have added the ability to configure notes (that are used regularly) for labels within code entry. Examples of this include the commonly used text -  'For external use only'.  You can now add this text by clicking on the button by the additional info box within the Label Options page, to have this added automatically (as opposed to having to type this out manually every time) 

3) Removal of client name whilst transferring clinical notes from one patient to another 

To ensure we are adhering to GDPR guidelines and protecting client’s personal data we have removed the client’s and patient’s names whilst transferring clinical notes and treatments from one patient to another.

4) Simplifying the list of reports by removing those that are unused

Within Merlin we have many reports and as part of an ongoing project to improve and simplify, we have hidden reports that are unused within a new category ‘reports to be removed’. If your practice has an on-going need for any of these reports, please notify support before we permanently remove them.

5) The order of ‘Archive history’ has been changed so the behaviour is consistent with the rest of Merlin – with the newest entries at the bottom of the page.

Upon viewing a patient and visiting the ‘Archive tab’, Archive history will now display from oldest (at the top) to newest (at the bottom) within the table on each page, this is consistent behaviour with the rest of Merlin.

6) Ability to edit a treatment category within code maintenance

 If you put a treatment code under the wrong category, for example – ‘Synulox inj’ under Oral, you can edit the code in the category and correct it so that it sits under injectables instead of having to delete or hide it and start again.

7) Within the diary – cancelled appointments have been changed to a neutral brown colour instead of red, as red looked too urgent

Feedback from users was that the red colour for cancelled appointments was too alarmist and made it look like an urgent request within the diary. So now, if an appointment is cancelled, it will display as a neutral brown colour.

8) Stock level visibility whilst dispensing treatment 

The previous workflow meant that whilst dispensing stock for treatment, you could only check the availability after adding it. This has now been changed so you can see the level of stock available whilst dispensing treatment which mitigates the risk of dispensing an item that may not be available.

9) Ability to record the practitioner who undertakes the work at different stages of the invoice workflow

Before this change, when an estimate was created, the practitioners name who created it - would be recorded against further steps on that estimate, such as undertaking treatment. This change ensures that any further actions undertaken on an estimate, such as dispensing treatment, that the name of that practitioner who undertakes the work will be recorded.

10) Print multiple insurance documents at the same time

Instead of having to go through the printing process for each individual insurance, an additional button ‘print insurance’ has been added within the client notes page, under print history.  Select the insurance documents you want to print, select ‘print insurance’ button, then you can print multiple insurance documents in bulk. 

Improvements 

Repeat prescription – Specify clearly the details of the current order

When dispensing repeat prescriptions, we have now included a note stating that this treatment order is included within the total, number of orders that should be repeated, we did this to avoid confusion and to make it more clear.

Prepopulated pharmacy species field when adding a treatment

Whilst adding a pharmacy treatment in the treatment page, the species of the patient is now automatically mapped and prepopulated, further saving you time. However, this can still be changed manually if required.

We have also fixed...

• Tote scan filter now works in ASN dashboard
• Printing payment receipt when printer not configured now displays a printer selection popup
• Time displaying in Print notes in Day Notes tab is now displayed as GMT+1
• File upload no longer creates duplicate Document / Document Item records
• 'Send-To Prescription List' – No longer duplicates entries in patient history
• Diary tags no longer disappear from availability window
• Patient Genders - Contact/Client Genders are no longer being included in Patient Genders Library List
• Double clicking buttons above the treatment grid will no longer result in an extra treatment being added 
• Appointment Location now loads correctly when editing appointment
• Batch Traceability Next Page option now working
• We have resolved an issue where the login name was not shown next to surgeon name when treating with a treatment code that requires a label. 
• Now when you add Item to existing Insurance Number, the next saved Clinical Note will use todays date instead of the initial Insurance Item
• Code Entry net-net override is now saving if a negative figure is entered
• The site settings of the site being viewed will now be used whilst using the  Operations list.
• Users can now send internal messages when they have access to another users default site
• Number of Characters allowed for manual stock Adjustment has been reduced by one character
• Performance Issues and Outage now fixed, when deleting of a Code if code already exists 
• Reminder recall paragraph no longer displaying coding
• Stock Evaluation now works correctly for all site ID’s in charity mode