Creating a Referral
This guide walks you through creating a new Referral in Manaaki Central, from finding the client through to dispatching the Referral to a service.
Before you start
You will need:
- The client's name and date of birth (to search for them, or to create a new record)
- The service the Referral is for
- Who made the Referral — the referrer
- Consent details, if consent has already been obtained
The + New Referral button appears for staff in an intake position, and for supervisors and programme managers. Case Workers do not see it — work reaches them already allocated. Visibility depends on the positions you hold on your assigned services, so if you think you should have it and don't, ask your administrator to check those.
The three steps
The Referral form is a three-step wizard. A progress bar at the top shows where you are.
| Step | Name | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intake | Client & referral — who the client is, who referred them, which service, and why |
| 2 | Consent | Permissions on file — how consent was obtained and what was provided |
| 3 | Review & Submit | Confirm & dispatch — check everything, submit, and send to a service |
The steps are completed in order. Consent unlocks once Intake is complete, and Review & Submit unlocks once Consent is saved.
The Referral record is created when you click Continue at the end of Step 1 — not at the end of the wizard. From that point it exists in the system with a reference number and Draft status, and you can safely leave and come back to it.
Step 1 — Intake
Open + New Referral from your dashboard, or go to /entries/new.
Choose the service
Select the service contract the Referral is for. This drives everything else on the page — each service has its own additional questions, which appear lower down once selected.
Find or create the client
Click the client search box and start typing a name.
- If the client already exists — select them from the results.
- If they are new — click Create new client and complete the inline form: first name, last name, date of birth, gender, phone and email.
Always search first. Creating a new client here also creates a new whānau group, so a duplicate record is more disruptive than it looks. If the client already has other active Referrals, a warning appears once you select them — check it before continuing.
Referral details
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Referral type | Yes | Self, Whānau, Educational, or Professional. Choose from the four cards — this changes which referrer fields you are asked for. |
| Urgency level | Yes | Routine, Priority, Urgent, Crisis, or Emergency. |
| Date of referral | Yes | Cannot be in the future. |
| Channel | Yes | How the Referral arrived — Internal, Face to Face, Walk-in, Email, Electronic, Event, or Network. |
| Reason for referral | Yes | At least 10 characters, up to 2000. |
| Additional referral details | No | Free-text, in the collapsible section below the reason. |
Who made the Referral?
The referrer fields appear once you have chosen a referral type, and change depending on which you picked:
| Referral type | What you need to provide |
|---|---|
| Self | Nothing — the client is the referrer. |
| Whānau | Select the whānau member making the Referral. If the client is under 16, a contact phone number is also required. |
| Educational | Search for and select the school or organisation, then select or add the contact person there. |
| Professional | Search for and select the organisation, then select or add the contact person there. |
If you select an organisation for an Educational Referral, the school name is filled in for you automatically.
Service-specific questions
Below the standard fields you may see an Entry Details panel with extra questions specific to the service you selected — for example child safety concerns or risk ratings.
Service-specific questions are advisory at this stage. Complete as much as you can — they will not stop you continuing, and you can fill them in later.
Continue
Click Continue when you have a client and a service selected. This creates the Referral and moves you to Consent.
Step 2 — Consent
Record how and when consent was obtained.
Consent details
| Field | Required | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Way consent obtained | Yes | Verbal, Written, or Electronic |
| Consent date | Yes | Cannot be in the future |
Confirmations
These must all be ticked before the Referral can be submitted:
- Consent to receive services
- Information sharing consent
- Rights and responsibilities document received
- Complaints form provided
- Privacy information sheet provided
These are optional:
- Funder research contact consent
- Photographic recording consent
- Emergency contact authorisation
Guardian consent
If the client is a child, a guardian consent section appears. You will need the guardian's name, their relationship to the client, and to select them from the client's support network. If the guardian is not there yet, you can add them without leaving the page.
Supporting documents
You can attach supporting documents — such as a signed consent form — in the collapsible section beneath the consent form. This is optional here, but see the note under dispatch below.
Click Continue to Review when done.
Step 3 — Review & Submit
The review screen shows everything you have entered, grouped by section, with an Edit link on each to jump back and change it.
Check it over, then click Submit. The Referral moves to Pending Service Dispatch and the dispatch dialog opens automatically.
Dispatching to a service
Choose the service, then pick one of three options:
| Option | What it does | Resulting status |
|---|---|---|
| Accept entry | Accepts the Referral into the service without assigning anyone yet | Accepted, awaiting allocation |
| Accept & assign kaimahi | Accepts and assigns a Case Worker in one action, creating the Service Episode immediately | Allocated, awaiting service |
| Send for approval | Sends to a supervisor or programme manager to approve and allocate | Pending Service Review |
If a signed consent document has not been uploaded, the dispatch dialog shows a reminder. This is a warning, not a block — you can still dispatch, but the document will be outstanding against the Referral.
Once dispatched you can go back to your dashboard or open the Referral to view it.
Saving a draft
You can click Save Draft at any point after selecting a client and service. Draft saving is deliberately forgiving — it only needs the client, service, date of referral and referral type. Everything else can be incomplete.
To pick a draft back up, open it from your dashboard's Intake Processing tab. It reopens at the step you left it on.
Related topics
- Referral Overview — statuses and the full lifecycle
- Submitting for Review — what happens after dispatch
- Uploading Documents — attaching files
- Workflow Overview — the end-to-end process
- Searching for Clients — finding existing client records