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This is step 1 of 5 in setting up a hospital, and everything after it depends on this page. Care areas are your statement of which departments this hospital actually runs — the Facility card puts it plainly: “Which departments this hospital runs. These control what appears in navigation.”

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Why this comes first

Switching a care area off removes three things at once — its navigation group, its settings tab, and its analytics report. A hospital with no operating theatre does not simply lose the Theatre group from the sidebar. It also loses the Theatre tab from Settings and the Theatre report from analytics, together, for everyone. That is why care areas come before departments, wards, theatres and staff: there is no point building inside a department you are about to switch off, and no point inviting a nurse into a hospital whose shape changes under them next week.

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Switch your areas on and off

1

Open the Facility card

The areas are grouped under two headings — Clinical units and Operational units. Every hospital sees the same eight switches, above an alert that states the whole rule: “Turning an area off hides it from menus for everyone in this clinic. It does not delete anything, and existing records stay reachable by direct link.”
2

Turn on what you run

Turning one on confirms Area enabled — “It now appears in navigation.”
3

Turn off what you do not

Turning one off confirms Area hidden — “It no longer appears in navigation. Existing records stay accessible by direct link.” Nothing is deleted, and switching it back on restores the group, the tab and the report exactly as they were.

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The eight areas and their defaults

An area that is on may bring its own settings with it. In-patient care adds Nursing observations and Nursing shifts; Front desk adds Front desk waiting; Records adds Records chase. Those sub-sections disappear with their area too. Surgical theatre is the only one that starts off, because most sites that sign up do not operate. If you have a theatre, switch it on now — step 4 needs it.
Inventory and the Store are different surfaces. The Inventory area covers stock, purchase orders and consumables. The Store is a revenue surface with its own gating and stays where it is whatever you do here.

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What has no switch

Triage, Consultation, Clinic Notes and Telehealth have no care-area switch. Every hospital on the Enterprise plan runs them, so they are always present. If one of those is missing for a particular person, it is their role or their permissions — not a care area.
Switching an area off hides it from everyone in this hospital immediately, including staff who are mid-shift in that department. Do not switch off In-patient care while there are patients on a ward.

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Check it worked

  • The sidebar lists exactly the groups you expect, and nothing for a unit you do not run. Refresh if an old group is still showing.
  • Settings shows a tab for each area you left on, and no tab for one you switched off.
  • Your analytics show the matching reports and no others.
  • Sign in as a colleague, or ask one to look: the change applies to the whole hospital, not only to you.

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If something goes wrong

Care areas exist on the Enterprise plan of the Clinic & Hospital edition only. A solo or team plan has one flat navigation with no departments to switch between. See Plans and what they include.
“Only the clinic owner or a manager can change these.” Ask an owner.
Care areas are one gate of several. Check that their role may open the pages — see Roles — and that role-based navigation is not excluding the group for them. Compare against an owner’s sidebar; owners are never restricted by role navigation, so if the owner sees it the difference is per-role.
Front desk carries registration and contacts as well as the check-in board. Switch it back on — nothing was lost.
The Theatre permission group only appears while the Surgical theatre area is on. Switch it on first, then set the permissions.

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Next step

Step 2 — Departments and sub-units

Build the units a consultation is filed under, and that triage routes patients into.

Care areas in full

Every switch, what it covers, and what it does not touch.