Use this when somebody needs support and they are not on Client cases yet — a walk-in, a phone call, a conversation in clinic, or a referral that reached you outside Joy.
Adding a client always creates a case at the same time. There is no way to add a person with no case: the dialog is called Add case for exactly that reason, and the client's first case is created for you as you save.
Before you start: you need the Add case button on Client cases. If you cannot see it, your role does not include adding clients — ask an Owner or Admin in your organisation. You will also need to confirm the client has given consent before the dialog will save.
Add the client
In the Case Management sidebar, open Client cases.
Select Add case at the top right. The Step 01 window opens, described as Add client: personal details. Date of birth is required.
Fill in the personal details. Three are required and are marked with an asterisk:
First name *
Last name *
Date of birth *
Everything else on this step is optional, and can be added later from the client's Profile tab: Title, Known as, Gender, NHS number, Ethnicity, Email, Phone, Address line 1, Address line 2, City, Postcode and GP surgery.
Select Next.
On Step 02 — Add client: case details and consent. A first case is created automatically — set up the first case:
Case status: Pre triage (the default), Active, Waiting or On hold.
Triage: Not triaged (the default), Low, Medium or High.
Referrer details: who the person came from. As you type, Joy suggests referral sources your organisation has used before, so the same wording is reused rather than typed slightly differently each time.
Referral reason: why they were referred, in your own words.
Tick The client has given consent *. The note underneath explains what you are confirming: The client has agreed for their information to be stored and used to support their care.
Select Add client. The button reads Saving... while it works.
Close discards everything and closes the window. Back returns you to Step 01 with everything you have typed still there.
If your organisation has the Spine lookup switched on, an Autofill client details panel sits at the top of Step 01 and can fill most of these fields from the NHS Personal Demographics Service. See the guide on autofilling a client's details from the Spine.
What happens next
You see the confirmation Client added, with the note A first case was created automatically.
Joy takes you straight to the new client's page, so you can carry on — add a note, book something in, or send them a message.
The client appears on All cases. They appear on My cases only once you or a colleague are assigned to the case; see the guide on assigning a client to yourself or a colleague.
The Email and Phone you entered become the client's first contact details, and you can add more from the Profile tab.
Anything you left blank can be filled in later — see the guide on updating a client's details in their profile.
Required fields and validation
If you select Next with a required field empty, the dialog stays on Step 01 and marks what is missing:
First name is required
Last name is required
Date of birth is required
If you reach Step 02 and select Add client without ticking consent, you see Consent is required to add a client under the tick box. Nothing is saved until it is ticked.
The "Possible existing clients" warning
As soon as you have entered a date of birth together with a name or an NHS number, Joy looks for people already in your organisation who look like the same person. If it finds any, an amber Possible existing clients box appears listing each one — for example Charlie Carter (born 14 Mar 1958, NHS 9990000001, LS2 2BB). The box stays visible on Step 02 as well.
This is a warning, not a block. Joy will still let you save. What to do depends on what you see:
It is the same person. Close the dialog and open the existing client instead. If they need support for something new, add another case to them rather than a second client record.
It is a different person with a similar name and date of birth. Carry on and add them. Filling in the NHS number, address and Postcode makes the two easier to tell apart later.
You have already created a duplicate. Merge the two records rather than deleting one — see the guide on merging client profiles.
Clients who arrive another way
Not every client needs adding by hand:
Referrals sent to you through Joy arrive in Referrals and create the client when you accept them — see the inbound referrals overview.
People waiting in the Triage tab already exist; use Allocate on their row to give them a case and a caseload, rather than adding them again. There is a separate guide on the triage queue and allocating a patient to a caseload.
A whole spreadsheet of clients is an organisation-admin import, not something you do from this dialog. Ask your Joy contact.
Troubleshooting
There is no Add case button. Adding clients is a permission. If your role does not include it, the button is not shown at all — ask an Owner or Admin in your organisation.
Add client does nothing. Check the consent tick box for Consent is required to add a client, and check Step 01 — if a required field was cleared, the dialog sends you back to Step 01 and marks it.
I see "Could not add client". Nothing was saved. Reopen Add case and try again; if it keeps failing, contact support with the wording of the message underneath.
I picked the wrong case status or triage level. Neither is fixed. Open the client's case afterwards and change it — nothing else about the client is affected.