Shifts and time off

Shifts define when you work, and therefore when patients can book you. Time off blocks out the days you are away.

If you cannot open Shifts, ask the clinic owner for rota access.

Setting shifts

On the Shifts page, set the hours you work. You can build a regular weekly pattern, then adjust individual days as needed. Online booking generates slots only inside your shifts, so this is the master control for your availability.

Time off and extra shifts

When you are on holiday, at a conference or simply taking a day, add it as time off. Those dates are removed from your bookable availability, so no patient can book you while you are away. An extra shift does the opposite: it adds hours on a single date without touching your weekly pattern.

A holiday in one entry

Under Add time off or an extra shift, choose the staff member, set the First day and the Last day (optional), choose Time off and press Add. Every day from the first to the last is added for you, so a fortnight away is one entry rather than fourteen. Leave the last day blank for a single day.

• You can add up to 92 days at a time. For anything longer, add it in two goes.
• Leave both times blank for whole days.
• Any day in the range that already has an entry for that person is left alone, so nothing is doubled up.
• Appointments already booked are never moved or cancelled. Check the diary and any booked-appointment warning before saving.

A holiday shows as one row

Under Time off and one-off changes, a run of consecutive days for the same person (same kind, times, location and note) is listed as one row: the first day to the last day, with the number of days beneath. A single day is listed as before. Each run has three buttons:

• Show days lists every day in the run beneath it, each with its own Edit and Delete, for changing or removing just one day. Hide days closes the list again.
• Edit all opens the whole run in one form: First day, Last day, Start (optional), End (optional) and Note, then Save all days. The staff member and kind stay as they are. Days still inside the new range are updated, days that now fall outside it are removed, and new days are added (a day that already has its own entry is left alone, as when adding).
• Delete all removes every day in the run in one go, after you confirm Delete all N days.

A run holds up to 92 days, the same as one add.

Closing the whole clinic

Closing the whole clinic? Add time off for each person who works that period. This removes online availability without creating a diary appointment. If you reopen early, delete the time off for the days you are back.

Changing something you have already set

Weekly hours, time off and extra shifts can all be edited in place. On a weekly shift, click the hours to open them. On a one-off, use Edit on its row, or click that day in the Month view to edit or remove it, however many months ahead it is. A holiday entered as a range is one row with Edit all and Delete all, or Show days to change a single day. Adding a single day that already has an entry offers to replace it. You no longer need to delete something and add it back to move it half an hour.

When shortening a weekly shift removes hours containing existing appointments, the change saves and a warning lists how many bookings have newly fallen outside working hours and on which dates. Your appointments are never moved or cancelled.

For one-off changes, a booked-appointment warning may appear before the change saves. Check its listed patients and times, then press Save anyway or Delete anyway if you want to continue. Check the diary yourself if no warning appears.

Two things worth knowing about the weekly-shift warning. Making a shift longer never warns about anybody, because nothing is being taken away. And an appointment that was already outside your hours is not counted, because this change is not what put it there.

Why it matters

Your shifts and time off are the single source of truth for availability. Keep them accurate and your public booking page stays accurate too, with no risk of a patient booking a slot you cannot honour.

Tips

• Set up your normal weekly pattern once, then tweak exceptions.
• Add time off as soon as you know about it, so the diary closes those days promptly.
• Remember buffers and minimum notice work on top of your shifts to shape the exact slots offered.