Provider Admitted Patient and Out-Patient Bookings: Events During the Reporting Period

• The Department of Health requires performance management information on ELECTIVE ADMISSION LIST and APPOINTMENT WAITING LIST booking events within a specified REPORTING PERIOD.

• The Department of Health uses the information to help monitor national WAITING LIST trends. These are used to develop policies and indicate changes which can enable the WAITING LISTS to be managed more effectively.

• This central information collection requirement is provider based and is submitted by provider NHS Trusts and provider Primary Care Trusts regardless of where PATIENTS live.

Admitted Patient Booking Events

• The collection is for:

  all PATIENTS for whom a DECISION TO ADMIT was taken during the REPORTING PERIOD to place the PATIENTS on the ELECTIVE ADMISSION LIST for booked and WAITING LIST admission

  and

  all PATIENTS for whom a DECISION TO ADMIT was taken during the REPORTING PERIOD to place the patients on the ELECTIVE ADMISSION LIST for booked admission only.

• It excludes those PATIENTS who are classified as planned admissions and Suspended Patients.

  ELECTIVE ADMISSION TYPE records the classification of the admission.

• All PATIENTS waiting for admission to NHS hospitals should be included, i.e. include PATIENTS who are private PATIENTS and PATIENTS who are Overseas Visitors where they have an OVERSEAS VISITOR STATUS of OVERSEAS VISITOR EXEMPT CATEGORY).

The collection is sub-divided into a count of day case admissions and ordinary admissions.

INTENDED MANAGEMENT records whether a PATIENT is intended as an ordinary admission (to stay overnight) or a day case admission (not to stay overnight).

Out-Patient Booking Events

• The collection is for:

  all PATIENTS referred within the REPORTING PERIOD for a first Out-Patient Appointment by GENERAL PRACTITIONER written referral where a booking systems was used

  and

  all PATIENTS given a first APPOINTMENT and added to the Out-Patient Waiting List within the REPORTING PERIOD for a first Out-Patient Appointment arising from a GENERAL PRACTITIONER written referral regardless of whether or not a booking systems was used.

• The APPOINTMENT ACCEPTED DATE of the first APPOINTMENT indicates which REPORTING PERIOD the first APPOINTMENT was added to the Out-Patient Waiting List.

  A first APPOINTMENT is where APPOINTMENT FIRST ATTENDANCE is National Code 01 'First appointment' for a first APPOINTMENT which has taken place.

  Where one or more APPOINTMENT is recorded for a PATIENT but none has as yet taken place, the notional 'first appointment' will be the APPOINTMENT with the earliest APPOINTMENT DATE. This excludes any APPOINTMENTS which have been cancelled as indicated by a recorded APPOINTMENT CANCELLED DATE.