This page explains the difference between running going Accountless or opting for Accounts with Triage, so you can decide which is right for your practice.
Please note: Accountless access is the default for every practice launching Anima in 2026. Account-based access is a legacy option, kept in place for the small number of practices that were set up before 2025 and haven't yet moved across.
Accountless Access
Your patients don't create an account, and they don't have a username or password.
When a patient starts a request, they enter their name, date of birth and postcode. Anima checks those details against the NHS Personal Demographics Service (PDS) and confirms they are registered at your practice. If the details match, they can raise their request straight away.
Behind the scenes a patient record is still created and stored securely. The patient's own NHS demographic details act as the key to it, rather than a password they have to remember.
What this means for your team
No account admin: No password resets, no "I've changed my email address" tickets, no re-registering patients. For larger practices, this alone can free up a meaningful chunk of an admin colleague's week.
No dependants to manage: Patients simply choose whether the request is for themselves or for someone else. There's nothing to link, register or maintain.
Care homes and carers just work: Under account-based access, a care home's residents were often linked as dependants to a single staff member's account. When that person left, every resident had to be set up again. Accountless removes that problem entirely.
Fewer barriers for patients: Nothing to sign up for, nothing to remember, nothing to lose access to.
One thing to be aware of:
Accountless access gives you less granular control over how many requests an individual patient can submit. However, very few practices find this to be an issue.
Account-based Access
Patients register with an email address and password, log in, and raise requests from that account. Carers can have dependants linked to their account.
This gives you slightly tighter control over individual patient request volumes. However, it puts the ongoing management of those accounts on your team: password resets, email changes, re-linking dependants, and re-registering patients who lose access.
Account-based access is a legacy configuration. We maintain it for practices that still use it, but it isn't the default and it isn't where the product is heading.
If you have any questions about which is the right choice for you and your practice please speak to you Customer Success Manager.