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How to name appointments and what information to include

Make sure your patients can understand appointment names and information in the NHS App.

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Using the right language

It is important to use the right language to help patients understand appointments displayed in the NHS App. This ensures that patients have all the relevant information to book the right appointment for their needs.

Set up a test patient to check how your appointments appear to patients and make changes if you need to.

Appointment naming

Do
  • make it clear if the appointment is face to face, over the phone or online. For example, you can include a line to say it is a 'phone appointment general'
  • use simple language the average reading age in the UK is around 9 years old
  • make the purpose of the appointment clear
Do not
  • use clinical terms. For example, patients understand the term 'blood test', rather than the clinical term 'phlebotomy'
  • use terms such as 'default', 'internet' or 'embargo'  as these do not make sense to patients
  • include the clinician name, time or location as these are displayed separately

Clinician naming

Do
  • include the gender of the clinician in the name field using (M) or (F) research shows that this is important to patients
Do not
  • include the clinician name in appointment names this causes confusion as the clinician name is already displayed separately

Check and change the names of your appointments

Use these guidelines for the clinical system that you use.

TPP SystmOne: instructions for naming appointments

In TPP SystmOne patients will be able to see the slot type and the rota type. You need to set both to be easily understandable. Only administrators can set the custom appointment slot types and rota types.

To change the name of the slot type:

  1. Select Setup > Appointments > Slot Types from the main menu.
  2. Highlight the slot you want to change by clicking on it, and choose Amend Slot Type.
  3. Edit the name and description, and click Ok. 

To change the name of the rota type:

  1. Select Setup > Appointments > RotaTypes from the main menu.
  2. Highlight the rota type you want to change by clicking on it, and choose Amend Rota Type.
  3. Edit the Name and click Ok. 
EMIS/Optum: instructions for naming appointments

In EMIS/Optum patients can see the session name and slot type.

To change the session name:

  1. In the Appointment Book tab, click on Create Session and then choose Load from template.
  2. Edit the Session Name and click Save as template.
  3. If this session template is already in use, a pop-up will appear asking you if you want to update existing sessions  choose Yes to rename them.

To change the slot type:

  1. In the Appointment Book tab, click on Appts Config and choose Slot Types.
  2. Click on the slot type you want to edit, and click Edit.
  3. Change the Name and click OK, and then OK again.

Last edited: 19 November 2025 9:29 am