What are Service Episodes?
A Service Episode is the delivery record for a client — it exists for as long as a Case Worker is actively working with them under a service, and it's where Activities get recorded against.
Service Episode vs Referral
The Referral is the intake record — the request for service, filled in during the three-step wizard. The Service Episode is the delivery record, created once the Referral is accepted into a service. They have separate statuses and separate lifecycles, but both stay linked to the same client for the life of the episode.
Everything before allocation — intake, consent, dispatch, approval — happens on the Referral. Everything from allocation onward — assigning staff, delivering the service, recording visits and notes, eventually closing out — happens on the Service Episode.
How a Service Episode comes to exist
You don't create a Service Episode directly — there's no "New Episode" button. One is created automatically the moment a Referral is accepted into a service, whether that's:
- A direct Accept entry or Accept & assign kaimahi at dispatch, or
- A supervisor or programme manager accepting a service request sent for approval
See Submitting for Review for the full dispatch and approval flow, and Starting an Episode for what happens next.
Lifecycle at a glance
A Service Episode moves through up to six statuses:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Awaiting Staff Assignment | Accepted into a service, but no Case Worker confirmed yet |
| Awaiting Commencement | Case Worker assigned, waiting for them to commence |
| Active | Service delivery is underway |
| On Hold | Delivery temporarily paused |
| Completed | Concluded successfully |
| Closed | Ended without full completion |
Completed and Closed are both final — once an episode reaches either one, it cannot be reopened or changed. For the full transition rules and a diagram, see the Workflow Overview.
Where you'll work: the Care Journey workspace
Opening a Service Episode takes you to its Care Journey workspace — one place with everything related to that client's episode:
| Tab | What's there |
|---|---|
| Overview | Status, assigned staff, recent activity, and the actions available for the episode's current status |
| Entry Details | The intake information carried over from the Referral, plus service-specific assessments |
| Activities | Every recorded visit, call, and note against this episode |
| Documents | Files attached to the client's record |
Related Topics
- Starting an Episode — how an episode is created and commenced
- Managing Episodes — day-to-day work on an open episode
- Closing an Episode — completion, closure, and consent withdrawal
- Referrals Overview — the intake record an episode is created from
- Recording Activities — logging work against an episode