How to set up GP Connect-bookable appointments: EMIS
Here's a step-by-step guide for EMIS practices to enable appointment bookings in Anima via the GP Connect integration. If you have further questions or problems, please contact your Anima account manager.
Step 1: Setting up your organisational settings
Step 2: Configure GP Connect Roles for your team
Step 3: Ensure that all Slot Types for bookable appointments in the calendar have the correct Status Type
Step 4: Updating existing sessions to make them GP Connect bookable
Step 5: Creating a session from scratch (if needed)
Step 6: Making changes to individual slots / Slot Properties
Step 7: Trigger a refresh of slots in Anima via Organisation Settings
Step 8: Check that appointments are pulling through in Anima
FAQ
When should I set my test rota? Within the next 7 days of your calendar.
Note: Ensure that your rota types and rota names do not have your GPAD keyword otherwise they will not be visible for appointment bookings.
Firstly, we want to create an organisation group for Anima which will allow you to determine who can book into slots in your practise.
Log into EMIS, head to the top left hand corner, click the EMIS bubble button, go to Configuration, and then click Organisation Configuration (see the image below).
In the top right hand corner of the page, click the Add button to create a new organisational group for Anima.
A box should pop up that allows you to Add Organisation Group. Under Organisation group name, you can name it anything that allows you to remember it’s related to Anima. E.g. AnimaRHLHeathCentre. Description is not necessary.
Under Organisations, you can click the magnifying glass search button on the right hand side to search for all organisations you want to access your clinics. The main reason we do this is to control who can book into your clinics slots e.g. you may not want 111, or another clinic to book into the slots. You can then find your clinic by ODS code and once you click Ok, it should show under Organisations. Now click, Ok again and your Anima organisation settings have been set up.
Your organisational settings should now be saved on the left hand side bar.
All users that you want to be GP Connect bookable in Anima must have a GP Connect role. I’ll show you how to set this up below.
Log into EMIS, head to the top right hand corner, click the EMIS bubble button, go to Configuration, and then click Organisation Configuration (see the image below).
In the bottom left hand corner, click on the Users tab.
Either in the Users side bar or using the Search button, find all the users that will require their appointments to be GP Connect bookable.
Double click on the user, and you’ll have an Edit User box pop up. Click on Role in the left hand side tab. Ensure that the Job Category is within the list below (if not, change it to one in the list below to ensure it is GP Connect bookable).
Set Job Category to one of:
- General Medical Practitioner
- Salaried General Practitioner
- Student Practice Nurse
- Specialist Nurse Practitioner
- Sister/Charge Nurse
- Staff Nurse
- Midwife
- Community Practitioner
- Community Midwife
- Dietician
- Pharmacist
- Psychotherapist
- Clinical Psychotherapist
- Social Worker
- Health Care Support Worker
- Healthcare Assistant
- Counsellor
- Phlebotomist
- GP Registrar
- Sessional GP
Then click the dropdown for Patient Facing Services Booking and set to All Appointments. Click Ok to save the changes.
Note: You have to do this for every person in the clinic whose appointment books you want to be visible within Anima.
Tip! We recommend thinking carefully about how your team works as this will ensure that invites are sent to the correct members of the team. Try to ensure the roles assigned group teams based on what they do (e.g. can they prescribe?). Here’s a quick example:
- All GPs in one group under “General Medical Practitioner”
- All prescribing nurses under "Specialist Nurse Practitioner”
- All non-prescribing nurses under “ Staff Nurse”
- All healthcare assistants and GP assistants under “Health Care Support Worker”
We want to ensure that all existing slot types are GP connect bookable.
Click Appointment Book on the top-level tab, then select Appts Config from the ribbon toolbar on the right hand side.
A window will pop up and on the left-hand side bar menu, click Slot Types. Here you will see all your slots. For the ones you want to be GP Connect bookable, double click on them to open up the Slot Type Details.
Ensure that the status type is Face to Face (Surgery) or Telephone/Audio. (If it is set to Not an Appointment, it will not show as GP Connect bookable!) Then click Ok to save.
Firstly, click on the Appointment Book tab at the top, and then click Create Session.
Load in a session from an existing template by clicking Load from Template at the bottom of the box, and search for the template.
This should open up the session like below.
Now click Set all for All slots GP Connect bookable? and then click Apply Filter.
An Apply Filter box should pop up which enables you to select the Anima Organisation group that we set in Step 1 and the number of bookable slots which should equal the total number of bookable slots you have for that day. Note: If the number of bookable slots does not match the number of available slots, this may prevent a slot being GP Connect bookable further down this tutorial. Ensure that Kind is equal to Reserve.
Now click Ok and Save Template (at the bottom) to ensure the template has been updated.
Here we create actual instances of the new Slot Type to allow Anima to book via GP Connect
From the EMIS Appointments Book tab in the top right hand corner, click Create Session
Enter the Session Name
Set Session Type to Timed appointments
Click on Session Holders (click to edit) at the bottom of the window
Click Add and choose the clinician you configured earlier with GP Connect permission to be the session holder. Note: The clinician must have the GP Connect permissions set up (see the section called Step 2: Ensure that Clinicians who will be the “Session Holder” are enabled for GP Connect bookings)
Next click on the slots on the right hand side and type Control-A to select them all
Right click and choose Slot Properties…
Ensure the Slot Type is one you’ve set to
Ensure Patient Facing Services Bookable is NOT SELECTED - otherwise it will show up on the NHS App
Ensure GP Connect Bookable is ticked. If it’s not there, it is likely to be on the previous screen All Slots GP Connect Bookable?
Click Apply and Close to save your slot configuration
Also ensure externally bookable is set to NO.
Click Create to save your new Session.
Head to the Appointment Book tab in the top left hand corner of EMIS
Right click on a specific slot you want to check and click Slot Properties
You’ll now be able to see that the slot is GP Connect Bookable.
(Not necessary but a small tip) If you want to change this to a catch up slot for example, you will face an error as a catch up slot is not GP Connect bookable. Therefore there will be a mismatch. To make this change, you’ll need to change the number of slots on the template filter (see Step 5: Updating existing sessions to make them GP Connect bookable).
Whenever you make a change of your settings in EMIS, it’s important to trigger a refresh so that Anima recognizes the changes you’ve made.
Head to the Anima desktop app. Click Settings → Organisation Settings → Scroll down and click Force appointment slots update
Go to the Anima desktop app, and go to the main Dashboard.
Double click onto a patient request.
Click on the Manage tab, followed by the Bookings/Invites button. Then click on Book appointment now and search for the type of appointment that should be pulling through - usually face to face consult.
A popup window will appear. Now click on Create new appointment and see if the appointments are coming through in the calendar below.
##FAQ
When should I set up my test rota?
- Your test rota should be set up within the next 7 days of your calendar.
Contents
Step 1: Setting up your organisational settings
Step 2: Configure GP Connect Roles for your team
Step 3: Ensure that all Slot Types for bookable appointments in the calendar have the correct Status Type
Step 4: Updating existing sessions to make them GP Connect bookable
Step 5: Creating a session from scratch (if needed)
Step 6: Making changes to individual slots / Slot Properties
Step 7: Trigger a refresh of slots in Anima via Organisation Settings
Step 8: Check that appointments are pulling through in Anima
FAQ
When should I set my test rota? Within the next 7 days of your calendar.
Note: Ensure that your rota types and rota names do not have your GPAD keyword otherwise they will not be visible for appointment bookings.
Step 1: Set up your organisational setting
Firstly, we want to create an organisation group for Anima which will allow you to determine who can book into slots in your practise.
Log into EMIS, head to the top left hand corner, click the EMIS bubble button, go to Configuration, and then click Organisation Configuration (see the image below).
In the top right hand corner of the page, click the Add button to create a new organisational group for Anima.
A box should pop up that allows you to Add Organisation Group. Under Organisation group name, you can name it anything that allows you to remember it’s related to Anima. E.g. AnimaRHLHeathCentre. Description is not necessary.
Under Organisations, you can click the magnifying glass search button on the right hand side to search for all organisations you want to access your clinics. The main reason we do this is to control who can book into your clinics slots e.g. you may not want 111, or another clinic to book into the slots. You can then find your clinic by ODS code and once you click Ok, it should show under Organisations. Now click, Ok again and your Anima organisation settings have been set up.
Your organisational settings should now be saved on the left hand side bar.
Step 2: Configure GP Connect Roles for your team
All users that you want to be GP Connect bookable in Anima must have a GP Connect role. I’ll show you how to set this up below.
Log into EMIS, head to the top right hand corner, click the EMIS bubble button, go to Configuration, and then click Organisation Configuration (see the image below).
In the bottom left hand corner, click on the Users tab.
Either in the Users side bar or using the Search button, find all the users that will require their appointments to be GP Connect bookable.
Double click on the user, and you’ll have an Edit User box pop up. Click on Role in the left hand side tab. Ensure that the Job Category is within the list below (if not, change it to one in the list below to ensure it is GP Connect bookable).
Set Job Category to one of:
- General Medical Practitioner
- Salaried General Practitioner
- Student Practice Nurse
- Specialist Nurse Practitioner
- Sister/Charge Nurse
- Staff Nurse
- Midwife
- Community Practitioner
- Community Midwife
- Dietician
- Pharmacist
- Psychotherapist
- Clinical Psychotherapist
- Social Worker
- Health Care Support Worker
- Healthcare Assistant
- Counsellor
- Phlebotomist
- GP Registrar
- Sessional GP
Then click the dropdown for Patient Facing Services Booking and set to All Appointments. Click Ok to save the changes.
Note: You have to do this for every person in the clinic whose appointment books you want to be visible within Anima.
Tip! We recommend thinking carefully about how your team works as this will ensure that invites are sent to the correct members of the team. Try to ensure the roles assigned group teams based on what they do (e.g. can they prescribe?). Here’s a quick example:
- All GPs in one group under “General Medical Practitioner”
- All prescribing nurses under "Specialist Nurse Practitioner”
- All non-prescribing nurses under “ Staff Nurse”
- All healthcare assistants and GP assistants under “Health Care Support Worker”
Step 3: Ensure that all Slot Types for bookable appointments in the calendar have the correct Status Type
We want to ensure that all existing slot types are GP connect bookable.
Click Appointment Book on the top-level tab, then select Appts Config from the ribbon toolbar on the right hand side.
A window will pop up and on the left-hand side bar menu, click Slot Types. Here you will see all your slots. For the ones you want to be GP Connect bookable, double click on them to open up the Slot Type Details.
Ensure that the status type is Face to Face (Surgery) or Telephone/Audio. (If it is set to Not an Appointment, it will not show as GP Connect bookable!) Then click Ok to save.
Step 4: Updating existing sessions to make them GP Connect bookable
Firstly, click on the Appointment Book tab at the top, and then click Create Session.
Load in a session from an existing template by clicking Load from Template at the bottom of the box, and search for the template.
This should open up the session like below.
Now click Set all for All slots GP Connect bookable? and then click Apply Filter.
An Apply Filter box should pop up which enables you to select the Anima Organisation group that we set in Step 1 and the number of bookable slots which should equal the total number of bookable slots you have for that day. Note: If the number of bookable slots does not match the number of available slots, this may prevent a slot being GP Connect bookable further down this tutorial. Ensure that Kind is equal to Reserve.
Now click Ok and Save Template (at the bottom) to ensure the template has been updated.
Step 5: Creating a session from scratch (if needed)
Create a session
Here we create actual instances of the new Slot Type to allow Anima to book via GP Connect
From the EMIS Appointments Book tab in the top right hand corner, click Create Session
Enter the Session Name
Set Session Type to Timed appointments
Click on Session Holders (click to edit) at the bottom of the window
Click Add and choose the clinician you configured earlier with GP Connect permission to be the session holder. Note: The clinician must have the GP Connect permissions set up (see the section called Step 2: Ensure that Clinicians who will be the “Session Holder” are enabled for GP Connect bookings)
Next click on the slots on the right hand side and type Control-A to select them all
Right click and choose Slot Properties…
Ensure the Slot Type is one you’ve set to
Ensure Patient Facing Services Bookable is NOT SELECTED - otherwise it will show up on the NHS App
Ensure GP Connect Bookable is ticked. If it’s not there, it is likely to be on the previous screen All Slots GP Connect Bookable?
Click Apply and Close to save your slot configuration
Also ensure externally bookable is set to NO.
Click Create to save your new Session.
Step 6: Making changes to individual slots / Slot Properties
Head to the Appointment Book tab in the top left hand corner of EMIS
Right click on a specific slot you want to check and click Slot Properties
You’ll now be able to see that the slot is GP Connect Bookable.
(Not necessary but a small tip) If you want to change this to a catch up slot for example, you will face an error as a catch up slot is not GP Connect bookable. Therefore there will be a mismatch. To make this change, you’ll need to change the number of slots on the template filter (see Step 5: Updating existing sessions to make them GP Connect bookable).
Step 7: Trigger a refresh of slots in Anima via Organisation Settings
Whenever you make a change of your settings in EMIS, it’s important to trigger a refresh so that Anima recognizes the changes you’ve made.
Head to the Anima desktop app. Click Settings → Organisation Settings → Scroll down and click Force appointment slots update
Step 8: Check that appointments are pulling through in Anima
Go to the Anima desktop app, and go to the main Dashboard.
Double click onto a patient request.
Click on the Manage tab, followed by the Bookings/Invites button. Then click on Book appointment now and search for the type of appointment that should be pulling through - usually face to face consult.
A popup window will appear. Now click on Create new appointment and see if the appointments are coming through in the calendar below.
##FAQ
When should I set up my test rota?
- Your test rota should be set up within the next 7 days of your calendar.
Updated on: 20/10/2024
Thank you!