See what optimising your forms can do - check out this guide for a selection of pre-optimised form templates

How Instructions and Metadata Work Together

When you set up a form field, you have two places to add guidance:

Instructions - These appear on the form for care workers. They help people understand what information you need and how to answer. Smart Notes reads these too. Instructions can be added to either sections or questions.

Smart Notes Metadata - This is hidden guidance just for the AI. If you want to fine-tune how Smart Notes handles a specific field, metadata gives you that extra control. If you add metadata to a field, it takes priority over instructions.

Most forms work well with just instructions. Metadata is useful if you find Smart Notes needs more specific direction for certain fields.

Starting Out - What to Add First

If you're new to this, begin here. These changes usually make the biggest difference:

Yes/No Questions
Instead of: "Does the client need help with meals?"
Try: "Does the client need help with meals? Answer yes or no. If yes, describe what help is needed."

Open Text Fields
Instead of: "Morning routine"
Try: "Morning routine - describe the service user's wake time, personal care needs, breakfast, and any medications given. Keep it to 3-4 sentences."

Lists of Items
Instead of: "Current medications"
Try: "Current medications - list each one separately, pausing between each medication."

Dates and Times
Instead of: "Next review date"
Try: "Next review date - say the full date, for example '15th January 2025'."

Which Forms to Start With

You don't need to update everything at once. These tend to give you the quickest wins:

Daily visit notes (you use these most often, so the payoff is regular)
Initial assessments (each one usually takes 60+ minutes to complete, so better accuracy saves real time)
Care plan reviews (these happen monthly)
Risk assessments (these matter for compliance and need to be accurate)

You don't need to update everything at once. If you're editing fields manually, 3-4 forms typically takes around 30-45 minutes. If you're using the AI-assisted route below, you can usually get through the same number in a similar time, with less manual effort per field.

What Happens When You Get It Right

With clear instructions, you'll notice the difference quickly.

Without good guidance: About 60-70% accuracy, spending 10-15 minutes fixing errors per form.

With clear guidance: Around 90-95% accuracy, needing only 2-5 minutes of minor fixes.

Sorting Out Common Issues

Information lands in the wrong field
Add clearer guidance: "Only describe [specific information] here" or "This field is for service user's needs only, not family views."

Too much detail or not enough
Add length guidance: "Answer in 2-3 sentences" or "Give a brief yes or no."

Multiple people speaking in one recording
Clarify who you want: "Only record information about the service user" or "Include the family member's perspective here."

Medical terms or medications are getting mixed up
Add format guidance: "Say medication names clearly, include the dosage" or "Spell out medication names rather than using abbreviations."

If you've tried clearer instructions and a field still isn't capturing information right, that's where metadata can help.

You can add more specific AI guidance there without cluttering the form for care workers.

Getting Started

You can update instructions anytime. There's no need for re-approval, and you can test changes with a practice recording before rolling out to your team.

When you add or change instructions:

Go to your form builder
Click on the field you want to update
Find the Instructions tab and add your guidance
Care workers will see the updated instructions on their next use

If you want to try metadata for specific fields, tenant administrators can add that through the Field Settings panel.

Using AI to optimise your forms faster

If you'd rather not update fields manually, you can use an AI assistant to do the heavy lifting. This works with any AI tool your organisation has approved for handling operational data, such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar.

The full process, including optimisation and scoring, takes around 15-20 minutes per form.

What this does

You export your form as a JSON file, run it through an AI assistant with the prompt below, and re-import the updated version. The AI adds field-level instructions and metadata based on what each question is asking. Your form data and existing submissions are not affected at any point. Only the form template is updated.

Step 1 - Export your form as JSON

Go to Configuration in Access Care Planning
Select Forms
Find the form you want to optimise
Click Export Form
Save the file somewhere you can find it easily

Start with one form. Test the full process before doing others.

Step 2 - Run the prompt

Open your AI assistant and upload the JSON file. Then paste in the following prompt exactly as written:

I am attaching a form JSON file exported from Access Care Planning, a care management platform used by domiciliary care providers in the UK.
This form is used with a feature called Smart Notes. Smart Notes records a care conversation, transcribes it, and uses AI to map what was said to the right fields in the form. The accuracy of that mapping depends on two things being present on each form field:

1. An instructions field - this tells the AI what the question is asking for and what a good answer looks like. Care workers can also see this on the form.

2. A smartNotesMetadata field - this gives the AI additional hidden context, such as expected format, relevant terminology, or abbreviations a care worker might use verbally.

Your task is to review the form JSON and add both instructions and smartNotesMetadata to every form component that does not already have them, or where they are empty or too vague to be useful.
When writing instructions:

- Explain in plain language what the question is asking for
- Include the expected format of the answer, for example: full sentences, a date, a yes or no response, or a list of medications
- Add one short example of a good answer where it would help

When writing smartNotesMetadata:

- Include clinical or care terms a care worker might say out loud that should map to this field
- Note any abbreviations or shorthand that are commonly used
- Specify if the field expects a particular structure or data type

Do not change anything else in the JSON. Do not rename fields, alter field IDs, change component types, or modify the form structure in any way.
Return the updated JSON file ready to import. If a field already has clear and detailed instructions and metadata, leave it as it is.

Step 3 - Check the output before importing

Before you import, spend a few minutes reviewing the AI's changes.

Open the file in a text editor or paste it into a free JSON viewer such as jsonlint.com
Check that the instructions added to each field make sense for a care context
Check that the smartNotesMetadata values are specific, not generic
Confirm the overall structure looks the same as the original (same number of fields, same field names and IDs)

If anything looks wrong, ask the AI to correct that specific field before importing.

Step 4 - Import the updated form

Go to Configuration in Access Care Planning
Select Forms
Click Import
Upload your updated JSON file
Confirm the import

The form will update immediately. Test it with a practice Smart Notes recording before rolling it out to your team.

Step 5 - Score your updated form

Once you've imported the updated form, it's worth checking how much the changes improved it.

Upload the updated JSON file to your AI assistant and paste in this prompt:

I am attaching a form JSON file from Access Care Planning that has been updated to work better with Smart Notes. Smart Notes is an AI voice-to-form tool that maps spoken care conversations to form fields.

Please score this form for Smart Notes readiness. Give an overall score out of 100 and a brief breakdown showing:

- How many fields have instructions
- How many fields have smartNotesMetadata
- How many fields have neither
- A short summary of any remaining fields that are likely to cause mapping errors, with a suggestion for each

Be specific. Do not give generic feedback. Focus only on what would help Smart Notes map speech to the correct field accurately.

A well-optimised form typically scores 70 or above. If you're below that, the output will tell you exactly which fields still need attention.

If you scored the form before optimising it, compare the two numbers. That gap is the improvement you've made.

A note on data security

Use whichever AI tool your organisation has approved for handling operational or confidential data. Do not use a personal AI account if your organisation has guidance against this. The form JSON contains your form structure and field labels, not client records or personal data, but it is still good practice to follow your organisation's data handling policy.