National Booking Service - training and onboarding

People can use this service to book vaccination appointments at vaccination centres, community pharmacies, primary care networks and hospital hubs across England.

They are shown appointments based on the type of vaccine allocated to them and their previous vaccination history. This flu or coronavirus vaccination information is taken from the National Immunisation Management Service.

Staff will have access to the booking platform to support patients.

The National Booking Service has 7 parts:

• Book a coronavirus vaccination - used by the public to book and manage coronavirus vaccination appointments
• Book a free NHS flu vaccination at a pharmacy – used by the public to book and manage a free NHS flu vaccination appointment 
• Q-Flow admin console - used by regional and site managers to manage their vaccination sites, appointment availability and user accounts.
• Check a vaccination appointment service/Check-In app - used by arrivals stewards and assessment clinicians at vaccination sites to view people's appointment details and check them in for appointments
• a training tool for 119 agents to familiarise themselves with the various booking journeys so they can support the public
• NHS App users can also book or manage a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination appointment

There is also a telephone booking service, 119, which is run by NHS England. Phone operators use the Book a coronavirus vaccination service on behalf of callers.

Site details are confirmed as part of the community pharmacies and vaccination centres site designation process.

Following assurance and confirmation of readiness assessment(s) completion, NHS Digital will create the site in the National Booking Service and create a Q-Flow user account for the lead IT admin (site manager user).

Site manager users will then be able to set up site attributes and schedule appointments in Q-Flow, to allow patients to book into them via the National Booking Service.

If you require help and support, please contact your System Vaccination Operations Centre (SVOC). 

Visit NHS Futures to find your SVOC contact, NBS (Q-Flow) training webinars, FAQs and more.