Bookable

Overview

Dear Colleagues

Digital system Bookable, parent company Healthtech – 1

West and North London ICB would like you to take 5 minutes of your time to confirm whether your practice has signed up to and is using the company called Bookable.

We appreciate the agile approach general practice takes when adopting digital systems to facilitate and enhance patient access, experience and improve the efficiencies of primary care. However, when adopting these tools, it is important to ensure that they are implemented in line with NHS governance standards to ensure the correct Clinical Safety, Data Security and Cyber Assurance standards are met.

The ICB has been made aware of a digital tool called Bookable (parent company Healthtech- 1) which enables patients to identify practices with the next available appointment, Bookable then charges practices £2.50 per automated registration.

Although this system may seem innovative for patients specifically when requiring an earlier appointment, there a number of concerns that have been identified by the ICB and we are seeking further guidance from NHS England Digital and Registration team.                         

Concerns identified with Bookable (Healtech-1); -  

• Patient choice – Not true patient choice as its driven by the next available appointment, bookable only contains a restricted list of practices that have signed up to their system and does not have the full list of all local practices close to where the patient lives, such as would be available via the NHS UK website Your choices in the NHS - NHS
• Continuity of care – this service may not be suitable for patients at risk, vulnerable, with multi-comorbidities and repeat prescribing needs   
• GP2GP patient records transfer – the ICB has been informed that at times there is a lag where the patient record does not transfer at the point of registration   
• Patient triage – Bookable registration will bypass the GP triage process so prioritising demand over need.          
• Fee being charged – to complete the patient registration and booking process.  Bookable are charging practices £2.50 per automated registration
• Registration via NHAIS – Bookable (Healthtech-1) is a private company, the ICB is seeking clarity how a private entity can complete the NHS patient registration via NHAIS and PCSE. It also appears to bypass the NHS Find a GP application, which is the online registration service supplied by NHS England and is one of the two types of registration application the contract requires practices to use.  The other is the specified paper form.

Whilst we explore this tool further and seek guidance, we would like to understand the total number of practices that are using the Bookable digital tool across West and North London ICB area, once we receive this data, we will then send out further guidance.       

Yours sincerely

Vanessa Piper and Julie Sands  

Assistant & Deputy Director of Primary Care Contracting

West and North London Integrated Care Board