Creating a Session

A session is a period of time that contains all of your appointment slots. You must create and allocate a session to a clinician or clinic before you can book an appointment.

To create a session:

1. From the Appointments Setup menu, select Sessions .
2. The list of existing sessions displays, select Add session... .
3. The Create Session screen displays:

4. Complete as required:
   • Select Colour - Select the black square to choose a colour for the session header, the Slot Type Colour screen displays:

     

     Optionally, tick Show unused colours only, to avoid duplicating header colours.

   • Session Name - Enter an appropriate session name, for example Dr Smith AM, Nurses PM surgery, Ante-Natal Clinic. This name displays when listing available sessions and on the Reception View so should be appropriate, a maximum of 20 characters.
   • Session options - Select to display the following, make your selections and then select Save to return to the Create session screen:

     

     • Session type - Select as appropriate, see Session Types for further details.
     • Detailed description / addition info - Additional information that displays fully in a tooltip when you hover over a session in Appointments Reception View, a maximum of 30 characters.
     • Practitioner Role - Mandatory for GP Connect Appointments, tells the third party, booking an appointment in this session, the type of clinician they are booking, select from the available list.
     • Location - Mandatory for GP Connect Appointments, tells the third party, booking an appointment in this session, where this appointment will take place, for example a branch surgery.
     • Open session - Tick to mark this session as an open session, for example a first come first served clinic.
     • Travel clinic - Tick to mark this session as a travel clinic, especially useful for appointments booked online by your patients.
• Slot Type - The default slot type is the first slot type on your Slot types screen, select the arrow to the left of the slot name , select Select slot type, and then the slot type required for the first slot. Select Clear slot type to insert a blank non-bookable slot, these can be used as 'catch up' slots.
  • If you are creating a session built mainly of the same slot, click, hold and drag the drag handle to extend the surgery, using the chosen slot type. The session duration automatically updates as you move the drag handle. You can now update any slot types required, you can also change more than one slot type at once, see Editing Sessions for further details.
  • If you are creating a pattern of slots, for example, two normal, one telephone, one book on the day repeated, extend the session to four slots, select the slot combination and then click, hold and drag the drag handle to the duration required. The pattern repeats as you extend, see Slot Patterns for further details.
  Note - You can always update the slot types in a session.
  Important - To facilitate reporting on vaccination appointments any COVID vaccination appointment slots should have a Slot Type of COVID VACS. This is essential for England however it is recommended to use elsewhere to help manage your appointment books. See Slot Types Overview for more information.
• Duration - You can specify a duration in minutes, or just click, hold and drag the drag handle to the correct time frame:

  

5. Select Save to save your changes, Reset to cancel any changes or Sort (A-Z) to reorder the list.