With the Waiting List, PracSuite can actively search for appointment availabilities matching the preferences of patients added to the waiting list. When an appointment is found matching a patient's preferences, PracSuite will notify you of the availability to prompt you to contact the patient to confirm the appointment time.
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For more information on adding patients to the Waiting List for group appointments, click here.
To access the Waiting List, click the clipboard icon on the bottom left of the Appointment Book.
Adding a Patient to the Waiting List
Select the add icon to start the process of adding a patient to the waiting list.
Search for an existing patient or create a new patient.
You'll then need to specify the patient's appointment preferences, starting with the Appointment Type, Duration, Width and Priority.
You can also specify the Businesses, Professions and Practitioners that the patient is waiting to see, as well as any relevant Resources and Notes.
Choose a Wait Until Date, at which point the waiting list entry with expire and PracSuite will no longer check for availabilities. If you wish to wait until the patient's next appointment date, select this option. Waiting Until Date defaults can be set in Settings > Appointment Book.
To set what time the patient is waiting for you can use either Quick Selection or Advanced. The quick selection allows you to select broad times such as Monday AM or Tuesday PM.
The Advanced availability option allows you to specify specific time blocks such as 9AM - 10AM Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as 11AM - 1PM Thursday.
Select Add to define a new advanced availability and then Save to add it as a preferred appointment time.
Once this has been set correctly, select Add to Waiting on the top right.
If PracSuite finds a time that is already available based on the selected preferences, you will receive a popup detailing the availabilities.
If the appointment time is suitable, select the Book button to proceed with the appointment. If the patient is not available at suggested times, mark the time as Not Suitable. You can also use the Find Next Available button to search for another time. Once you have exhausted your options and PracSuite identifies that there are no other appropriate times available, select Add to Waiting List to complete the process.
Adding a Patient to the Waiting List While Booking an Appointment
PracSuite also makes it easy to add a patient to the waiting list while you're booking an appointment. This is ideal if the patient wants to book an appointment in the future, but also to be added to the waiting list for an earlier time.
While in the normal appointment booking process, use the drop-down arrow to the right of the Book button to select the option to finalise the booking and add the patient to the waiting list.
You'll then need to step through the waiting list process for the patient.
Filtering the Waiting List
Filter the results shown in the Waiting List using the filter icon. You can choose which practitioners/businesses to show, and whether the waiting list should display availabilities on all days, or just the selected day/week.
Processing Waiting List Entries
PracSuite automatically checks for appointment availabilities every 10 minutes and a notification will be displayed if an available appointment is found. Clients will remain on the Waiting List until an appointment is found or the entry expires based on the Wait Until Date selected.
When an appointment is found it will appear in the Appointment Available section, along with the patients that can be booked at the available time.
Select the patient to wish to book into the available time to view options to book the appointment, go to the appointment time, view/edit the waiting list details, go to the patient's file or delete the Waiting List entry.
Selecting Book This Appointment will start the process of finalising the appointment. If the client is able to attend one of the available appointments, select the Book button to bring up the Appointment Details screen to complete the booking.
If the time is not suitable for the patient, you can mark it as Not Suitable and use the Find Next Available button to see if there are any other suitable times available. If you mark any times as Not Suitable, select Save in the top right to return the patient to the Waiting List.
Reporting on the Waiting List
The Waiting List Report can be used to search and send messages in bulk to patients on the waiting list.