Resolving appointment booking barriers across practices

Context and problem

The PCN Clinical Director raised a problem with appointments created by the PCN: practice staff could not amend or cancel them and had to refer requests back to the PCN team. He reported that Accurx had described a fix as lengthy and expensive.

PCN users had broader patient access than practice staff. Replicating that profile would have requested access to confidential information beyond the practice users’ responsibilities.

Diagnosis and recommendation

I assessed the workflow with the Clinical Director and researched the issue. The required capability was appointment administration, rather than wider patient-record access.

I proposed adding amend and cancel permissions to the existing practice user profile. A written summary set out the targeted change so the practice could take it forward with the supplier.

Implementation and contribution

Accurx agreed that the change could be delivered as a minor, no-cost update. The practice progressed the proposal and the update was delivered the following day.

My contribution was diagnosis, research and requirements definition. The practice and supplier retained responsibility for implementation.

Outcome

Practice staff could amend or cancel the relevant appointments directly, removing the need to refer those changes back to the PCN team. The solution addressed the workflow barrier without requesting the PCN’s broader patient-information access.