NHSE have published new guidance for practices on requirements for online appointment booking following changes to the General Medical Services (GMS) in October 2022.
Previous contractual requirement stated that “all practices will ensure at least 25% of appointments are available for online booking”. This requirement – that applied to the entirety of the practice’s appointments – has been replaced by a requirement that practices instead make all their “directly bookable” appointments available online, as well as by phone or in-person.
The new guidance explains to GP practices what kinds of appointments could be included for online appointment booking and what methods can be used to categorise them. For any questions please contact england.digitalfirstprimarycare@nhs.net.