FAQ

This page is intended to be a quick reference.

Core features – helping practices find locums faster

The main feature is the ‘Availability’ screen. Here, you can view all combined GP availability in a single calendar, view any GPs detailed availability and create session Requests to doctors, in a few clicks. The system will handle the process from there, creating items within your Schedule screen and showing you the GPs responses & your subsequent responses to their responses, using colour coded logic until each Request has reached a logical conclusion.


Personal contact is not required to book a locum GP.

A request to work from a surgery to a GP can be made by a surgery, through the website, without contacting the GP

A request will generate a notification email to the GP and show up in the GP’s calendar and your Schedule as blue

An acceptance of that request can be made by a GP, through the website, without contacting the surgery in person

An acceptance by a GP will generate a notification email to the surgery and show up in their Schedule and the GP calendar as yellow

A confirmation of an accepted session can be made by the surgery, through the website, without contacting a GP in person

A confirmation will generate a notification email to both parties and show up in both parties accounts as green


FAQ – Practice accounts

What is a Request?

How do I create a Request?

What happens when I Request a GP ?

How does the Request/Response process work?

 

FAQ – GP accounts

What is an Available Session?

What is a Request?

How should I respond to Requests?

How does the Request/Response process work?

How can I stop Practices see my availability after I have responded?

Can I cancel a request after it has been confirmed?


 

 

What is a Request?

This is a Request to a GP that matches one or more of your Requirements. Requests are made from the GPs details screen, accessed by clicking a GPs name in the Availability Calendar.

You can make as many Requests as you like. You can Request many GP’s for the same session. You can choose which GP you wish to confirm when GPs have responded to their Requests.

All Requests and GP responses will appear in your Schedule screen

TOP

How do I create a Request?

You create sessional Requests in your Schedule, by clicking on the sessional part of the day in the GP’s availability Calendar (GP details view). Then you simply fill out the required info and click ‘send’ button

TOP

What happens when I Request a GP?

When you Request a GP, it initially does 3 things:

  • Creates the Request in the GP’s calendar
  • Sends an email to each GP notifying them of the Request
  • It creates a Request in your Schedule screen

GP’s then login to their account and can respond to your Requests with a single click, Accepting or Rejecting each request individually. This will then show in your Schedule with a color change to signify their response.

After you send a Request to a GP, the GP receives a notification email.

If the GP responds by accepting the Request, the Requirement turns blue in your Calendar and you receive an email notification.

If the GP responds by declining the Request, the Requirement turns red in you calendar. You can cancel the Request and create a new one.

Confirming a GP that has accepted a request

You have final say over which GP works any of your Requirements. Any number of GP’s can Accept your request for the same session, but you can confirm only one. This then locks the Requirement, cancels the Requests to other GP’s for the same Requirement and removes that sessional Availability from the GP’s calendar. The GP cannot then accept Requests from other Surgeries for the same session.

TOP


How does the Request/Response process work?

1. For each Request, the GP’s in question get an email notification. They then login to their account and can Respond to Requests with a click.

2. Requests you have made that a GP has accepted will appear in your calendar as yellow (but they are not yet Confirmed)

3. You can Reject or Confirm these Accepted Requests with a click (They then change color again)

Note: If you Confirm an Accepted Request, and it will then turn green.

Note: If you Reject an Accepted request to one GP, other GP’s that you requested are still able to Accept their Request

Note: other GP’s you also requested are not able to Accept a Request after it has been Confirmed by you

TOP

 



 

What is an Available Session?

This is a part of day in your calendar, that you have specified as being available (clicked). It shows as purple

When you initially create a session of availability, it shows as purple. – Later it changes color to reflect a change in status (eg. if a surgery Requests you for the session, it turns blue)

TOP

 

What is a Request?

This is a session created by you in your calendar, that a Practice has seen and Requested you for. It shows as blue

When a surgery Requests you for the session, you receive an email notification and the session turns blue)

TOP

 

How should I respond to Requests?

Requests are responded to by clicking the session in your calendar – then, on the left you will see a Request details box.

The Request details box contains relevant information about that request and gives you have a number of options.

You can decline or accept the Request. Declined requests show as red. Accepted requests show as yellow in your calendar.

TOP

How does the Request/Response process work?

This diagram shows the color logic behind the process of Requirement – Request – Accept – Confirm.

TOP

How can I stop Practices see my availability after I have responded?

When you decline a Request, you can choose whether or not to continue to show the session in question as available

Here you have a number of options, including whether or not to continue to show the session as available.

TOP

Can I cancel a request after it has been confirmed?

A GP cannot cancel a confirmed Request (green) from within their Calendar – but a Practice can cancel it. This will return the GP’s session to normal in their calendar.

Confirmed requests are shown in green.

TOP

 

The definition of the four sessions

Many users have asked what the start and end times are of the 4 sessions we structure days with in the system.

We do not attempt to define exactly what is meant by a morning, afternoon, evening or overnight session. There is a very good reason for this: It would render the system almost unusable. Imagine if we tried to force every doctor to use a strict day structure that we have defined. Imagine if we tried to force every Practice to conform to our shift structure.

Instead, the four-parts-to-a-day structure we create is there to provide a framework onto which both parties can overlay their own precise meaning, during the Request/booking process and subsequent negotiation.

We feel that, both doctors and practices need to have the freedom to define their needs and negotiate with flexible start and end times.

How GPnetworks handles the processes and communication behind the Request and bookings

GPnetworks has developed a system that successfully automates the processes behind requesting and booking locum cover.

The system mimics the real-world negotiation involved between employer and GP and uses email notifications and reminders to drive any process started by an account holder, forward to a conclusion

The Request details:

Requests are comprised of the following things (provided by employers when making requests):

  • Date of session
  • Specific start and end times
  • Location
  • Contact details
  • Option notes:
  • Optional rate offered:

The process:

1. Practice sees a GPs sessional availability that matches their need

2. Practice makes a Request to the GP for the session in question

3. The system creates a Request in the Practices Schedule, changes the status of the GPs session in their calendar to blue, to show there is a Request the session and sends the GP an email notification containing all the details of the Request.

4. The GP logs into their account and accepts or declines the Request using features provided in the Request details box within their calendar.

5. The system sends an email notification to the Practices and alters the color of the Request in both parties calendar, accordingly, to show the changed status.

6. If a GP accepted the Request, the Practice can then Confirm or cancel the Request within their Schedule screen.

7. This alters the color of the Request in both parties calendar and sends both parties an email notification.

The four sessions that comprise a day in your Calendar

The GP Availability calendar and the Practices corresponding calendar interface shows each day as broken down into 4 separate sessions.

  • Morning
  • Afternoon
  • Evening
  • Overnight

These are not strict start and end times, rather they are a rough segmentation of days, designed to offer a starting point for the GP’s to use to advertise their availability.

We understand that sessional availability cannot always start and end at the same time and, likewise, a Practices requirements will not begin and end at the same point each day of the year.

For this reason, we cannot offer strict start and end points to the 4 sessions.

In order that GP’s and Practices can make full use of the sessional availability system, there are 2 additional things that are most useful.

1. For GPs
Each GP can write a custom message to Practices within their account. This is where each GP can specify their own exact start and end points for sessions, should they wish to.

2. For Practices
When using the built-in Request and Booking feature, each employer has to specify the start and end points of the session they are requesting cover for. This information is then sent to the GP in their notification email and saved with the Request details, in the GP’s calendar.

Summary
It is the combination of our loosely segmented days, with the two extra items above, that creates accurate and useful information for both parties.

An overview for Practices

Apart from looking in the Master Calendar for available locums and calling or emailing them, how do the more advanced aspects of the system work, in order to help Practices find locums quickly and easily?

Here is an overview of the process:

In the Availability screen the system will allow you to:

  • View all combined GP sessional availability in a single calendar
  • Click and GP to view their full availability and contact details
  • Create as many session Requests as you like with just a few clicks
  • Requests and their subsequent responses are automatically added into your Schedule screen
  • The Schedule allows you to view & maintain all Requests made, including decline & confirm

The system will handle the processes of notification and reminders between your practice and the GP(s) until Request are resolved

* you can add notes to requirements, start and end times, pay rates, etc