Firstly, just to talk about the patient experience. The patient experience was designed by the IPU. They asked us at the start of Covid to create a booking system for the Irish pharmacy market, as there wasn’t one available. They spec’d it out, and we implemented it within our technical infrastructure along with our security policies, etc., which we did. 

We’ve been working on it since, and we’ve been spending a lot of time enhancing the booking system since then. This is what the patient view looks like. You just click through it. You have a widget on your website or on the mobile app. They pick a particular appointment type, such as a nasal vaccine or a covid booster. It’s whatever we create for you. We keep these appointments up to date for you. So as a goal changes, we update it, and we’ll be updating all of the flu appointments later this month, early September. 

Once we get all the info back from the HSE and NIAC, they’ll be updated. Basically, a person walks through these steps: they pick a service, select a time or go on a waiting list, provide information about themselves, including contact information and GDPR consent, complete a medical intake form, and then provide informed consent. It’s as simple as that. It’s pretty simple to use. The same steps are on the mobile app. The information is then shown when they click on the appointment, and they select one, for example, the COVID-19 vaccine booster. They’ll get information about the vaccination. This is last year’s example. They can click on links to the HSE, etc. Then they select a time that you’ve made available to them. They provide their contact details, give GDPR consent, and answer medical questions, like related to anaphylaxis or other relevant medical history. Then the last step is to give informed consent, and only after clicking “Yes, I give consent” can they finalize the booking of the appointment. The system will give them a confirmation page where they can add the appointment to their Google or Outlook calendar. We also set up different reminder messages based on your workflow. You can request confirmation messages, a 1-day reminder, 1-hour reminder, via email, SMS, or push message on the mobile app. We can also include a link for the patient to confirm, reschedule, or cancel the appointment. It’s flexible and easy to operate.

Now, for the backend, you will see our portal, which you log into using two-factor authentication for GDPR security. It prevents phishing attacks and ensures system security. You log into the pharmacy portal, click on the appointments, and there you’ll see various views. The default is set to 14 days, aligned with the HSE cold chain delivery cycle. This default is based on IPU specifications. The system also rolls over at midnight at the end of 14 days, which means patients can only book two weeks out. There are filters for appointment types, and you can search for individual names or notes within the system. In the top right corner, you’ll see a sub-menu icon which provides setup instructions, information on appointment types, export functions, and other scheduling resources. The appointment types section allows you to set appointments as available, unavailable, or in waitlist mode. Waitlist mode is recommended for offsite clinics like school vaccination programs, which makes operations smoother. The allow booking mode, as seen with Shindrix, lets patients select an appointment, proceed through the booking workflow, and secure a slot for themselves.

Regarding resources, each appointment type is connected to a specific resource, which can be adjusted to your scheduling needs. For example, if you need to handle Covid and flu appointments separately due to staff constraints, we can help you set this up. You can modify hours based on staff availability, holidays, or specific needs by adjusting regular and date-specific hours.

When an appointment is viewed, information about the client, including contact details, PPSN, and consent text, is displayed. You also have access to the medical intake form, which can be updated if needed, and you can take actions like sending messages, rescheduling, marking appointments as complete, or canceling them. All actions are tracked in a history log as part of our audit system.

This is an overview of the booking system and new features. If you have any questions or need specific training on any aspects of the system, please let us know. We appreciate your time, and thank you for attending.