Due to the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), several weeks data show a higher number of appointment slot issues than the number of referrals raised. This may be due to the cancellation of routine appointments, and the subsequent re-booking attempts made by patients.
The interactive dashboard which accompanies these open data files includes only data for ICB – sub group organisations. The open data files include referrals, bookings and appointment slot issues from both ICB – sub group and non-ICB – sub group organisations. Therefore, users of the open data files may wish to include or exclude data from the non-ICB – sub group organisations from their own analyses.
ICB – sub group organisations are as of 1 April 2021 and include the April 2021 ICB – sub group mergers.
Reported measures
The number of events are the number of referrals, bookings or ASIs per week after adjustment for bank holidays.
4-week rolling average is the mean number of referrals, bookings or ASIs per week for the last 4 consecutive weeks (rolling 4-week period), after adjustment for bank holidays.
Referral rate is the number of referrals per 10,000 population (patients registered at a GP practice) per week, after adjustment for bank holidays.
Bookings rate is the number of bookings per 10,000 population (patients registered at a GP practice) per week, after adjustment for bank holidays.
ASI rate is the number of ASIs per 10,000 referrals (number of referrals in e-RS) per week, after adjustment for bank holidays.
4-week rolling event rate is the mean number of events per 10,000 population per week for the last 4 consecutive weeks (rolling 4-week period), after adjustment for bank holidays.
The percentage change is the percentage change in number of referrals, bookings or ASIs from the baseline. The baseline was defined as the average number of referrals, bookings or ASIs per week between 7 October and 29 December 2019. This period was chosen as it was unlikely to be affected by COVID-19.
Referral data
A referral in e-RS is defined as a request to another clinician to assist with management of a patient's health issue, this may result in creating an appointment request with a shortlist of suitable services, into one of which the patient may book an appointment. Each referral has a unique booking reference number (UBRN). Referral data includes referrals for all priorities, specialties, and clinic types. Two week wait (2WW) clinic types are displayed, all other clinic types have been grouped into 'Other clinic'.
Booking data
Bookings data includes the number of successful initial bookings made as the result of a referral. A booking may be made at the same time as a referral, or at a later date. It includes bookings of referrals previously on the Appointment Slot Issues (ASI) worklist, provided the provider updates the e-referral system with the booking information. For non-2WW bookings, this set of data includes First Outpatient bookings only. For 2WW bookings, the data includes bookings for all appointment types. Only the first record of a converted Unique Booking Reference Number (UBRN) is counted (unique UBRNs). Subsequent activity such as rebooking is ignored.
Counts exclude bookings from Ministry of Defence (MOD) sites. 2WW clinic types are displayed, all other clinic types have been grouped into “other clinic”.
Appointment Slot Issue (ASI) data
Appointment slot issue (ASI) data - during the appointment booking process e-RS will allow the referral to enter the ASI process if there are no slots available for booking at the time of the appointment search. This action is called “Defer to Provider”. Each time the referral is deferred the referral will appear on the service provider's “appointment slot issues” worklist. It is this action we are reporting.
The data represents every ASI action recorded during the reporting period. 2WW clinic types are displayed, all other clinic types have been grouped into “other clinic”.