An Appointment Request is a type of SERVICE REQUEST for an APPOINTMENT.

Each originating request may result in one or more APPOINTMENT OFFERS.

The originating request may be from:

• a PATIENT self-referral REFERRAL REQUEST
• a REFERRAL REQUEST from one ORGANISATION or CARE PROFESSIONAL to another ORGANISATION or CARE PROFESSIONAL
• follow up to a previous APPOINTMENT at which attendance or contact has taken place related to the same REFERRAL REQUEST
• an APPOINTMENT at which attendance did not take place for whatever reason, requiring a new APPOINTMENT to be made
• an invitation for an APPOINTMENT as part of a HEALTH PROGRAMME
• an ACTIVITY which requires an APPOINTMENT to be made for further care or treatment.

Each Appointment Request should be reviewed by the receiving CARE PROFESSIONAL, ORGANISATION or SERVICE to decide whether an offer of an APPOINTMENT should be made.

It is on this date it is considered that the PATIENT has been added to the Out-Patient Waiting List for the APPOINTMENT with the expectation that it will take place.

When it is decided that an offer of an APPOINTMENT should be made then one or more APPOINTMENT OFFER should be offered each of which will record a separate and different APPOINTMENT DATE OFFERED and APPOINTMENT TIME OFFERED to the PATIENT.

The APPOINTMENT DATE OFFERED and APPOINTMENT TIME OFFERED of the APPOINTMENT OFFER equate to the allocated APPOINTMENT SLOT.

When more than one date is offered for the same Appointment Request, the PATIENT can choose which date and time to accept. APPOINTMENT ACCEPTED DATE records the date that the offer is accepted. When multiple dates are offered, the PATIENT should only be allowed to select one of them.

This item is not referenced in a data set in the NHS Data Model and Dictionary. It has been retained for information.

This supporting information is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
plural	Appointment Requests