England Only - Appointment Modes

The General Practice Appointments Data (GPAD) programme improves data collection establishing a consistent method by which practices can capture Appointment Mode data, for example, Face to Face or Home Visit and report this to GPAD.

The first phase was delivered in Appointments Setup 3.4 and provides the ability to map Slot Types to an Appointment Mode either in bulk or one by one.

Appointments Setup 3.5 introduces the next phase of this requirement.

It is now mandatory when logging on to Appointments Setup, to map all Slot Types to an Appointment Mode before carrying out any other action. If any Slot Types require mapping to an Appointment Mode, a message advises you of this and gives you the option to Map now or Map later:

• Map now - Displays the Modes screen, where you can filter the outstanding unmapped slot types and map them to an Appointment Mode.
• Map later - Allows you to defer on that occasion and continue using Appointments Setup without mapping.
  The next user to log on to Appointments Setup will only have the option to select Map now:

What are the Benefits of this new Functionality?

• Having a standardised method of recording the method of booking an appointment helps achieve more reliable reporting of Appointment Mode.
• An improvement to the quality of GPAD reporting enables a better understanding of how appointments are planned and managed locally. This can help inform local operations, national policy and planning decisions.
• Without this new functionality, it is likely that the accuracy of GPAD would continue to decline. This is because as more and more appointments are being conducted through ever more diverse methods, this is not being accurately and consistently reflected in GPAD reporting.