Adding an appointment from the diary
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The quickest way to book a patient in is straight from the calendar itself.
Creating the appointment
- Open the Calendar and find the day, in day or week view.
- Click the empty space in the diary at the time you want. A New appointment drawer opens from the right, with the date and time already filled in from where you clicked.
- Search for the patient by name, phone number or email and pick them from the list.
- Choose a Treatment, set the time, add any notes, then press Create appointment.
The patient comes first in the drawer because it is the first thing you ask on the phone. If your clinic has one practitioner there is no practitioner box at all, because there is nothing to choose. The treatment list is grouped by category when you have more than one, so a long menu is still quick to scan, and the Create appointment button is pinned to the bottom of the drawer so it is never a scroll away.
A patient you have never seen before
If the search comes back with No matching patients, you do not have to abandon the booking. Type their first and last name and the drawer offers Add [name] as a new patient. Press it and a short form opens in the drawer for their Email, Phone, Date of birth, Postcode and Address (Town or city is optional). Press Add [name] and the record is created and selected there and then, so you can carry on and book them in without leaving the calendar.
If you cannot take everything over the phone, tick Patient will provide details later (you can send them a link). You still need their name and an email or phone number. The record is saved with a Details incomplete badge, shown on their record and as a ! on their appointments in the diary, and Request details on their Demographics card sends them a link to fill in only what is missing.
Marketing consent is not set, so they are not opted in to anything by a side effect of being booked in. That is a conversation, not a by-product.
How the duration is worked out
You rarely need to type a duration. The booking length comes from, in order of priority:
- A number you type in the Duration (min) box, which overrides everything.
- The treatment's own duration.
The drawer shows a preview line, for example Books 30 minutes, 10:00 until 10:30, so you can see exactly what will land in the diary before you save.
What happens automatically
When you confirm a patient appointment, any required forms set to go out before appointments are created. The booking confirmation links to them if the email is sent. The email depends on your automation and channel switches, the patient's contact preferences and a usable email address. Forms still appear on the patient record when no email is sent.
Asking for a reservation fee
When Stripe is connected and you have chosen a patient and treatment, Booking option offers Confirm now, no reservation link, Create a short hold and reservation link or Send a 24-hour request, do not reserve the slot. A short hold lasts roughly 31 minutes. A 24-hour request reserves nothing until the patient starts checkout and availability is checked again. These requests cannot double book. Press Create reservation request for either request option. Email the reservation link, respecting messaging switches controls whether the link is emailed.
If the slot is taken
If the time clashes with another patient's appointment for the same practitioner, nothing is saved yet. If your panel offers double booking, it names who is already there, for example Ashleigh Smith at 15:30 is already booked with Jennie Wallace. Book Joanne Smith at 15:30 as well?, and offers two buttons:
- Book anyway, double booking keeps both appointments in the diary, side by side. Online booking still shows the time as taken.
- Pick another time backs out so you can choose something else.
If the time clashes with a blocked-out time, such as lunch, or you are booking several treatments at once, there is no such choice: you will see That slot clashes with another appointment and need to pick another time. See Booking two patients at the same time.