How to manage patient bookings online
A calendar per doctor, consultation types as services and confirmation done by your reception.
Specific businesses
A practice or clinic can cut some of the phone traffic at the front desk with an online booking page: patients ask for a time at any hour, and each doctor keeps an organised schedule. 4appointments handles scheduling only. It is not a medical records system, and it sends nothing to patients, so your team confirms and informs them directly.
Add each doctor as a provider with their own weekly schedule. Create the consultation types as services, each with its own duration and price, for example a first visit and a follow-up. Every service is shown for every provider, so tell patients when a doctor does not offer a certain type.
Share the public link of the practice, or the separate link of a particular doctor. Patients choose a service, a doctor or the option Any available person, and a free time, without an account. The page offers only free times, and the notice rules decide how close to the appointment someone can still book.
Each request arrives as pending and holds the time. Reception confirms or rejects it in the Bookings section and then calls or messages the patient, because the tool sends no confirmation or reminder. This is also the moment to give preparation instructions, such as fasting or documents to bring.
Reception can create bookings for emergencies and for patients without internet access, and block time for administrative tasks using days off and blocks. Permissions can be set per team member, so reception can manage bookings while other members only view them, and the team calendar can be kept private where needed.
Keep the data minimal. The form collects a name, an optional email address and a free note, so ask patients not to write medical details there, and keep clinical information in your own records system.
Key points
- ✓A calendar and weekly schedule for each doctor
- ✓Consultation types set up as services with their own durations
- ✓Reception confirms by hand and tells the patient directly
- ✓Permissions per team member, and a private option for the team calendar
Frequently asked questions
How do I protect patient data?+
Collect as little as possible: the form needs only a name and an optional email address. Do not use the free note for medical information, and keep clinical records in a dedicated system. Set permissions so that each team member sees only what they need.
Can I connect it to a medical records system?+
No. 4appointments has no integrations or API. You can export the list of bookings as CSV, XML or PDF if you need the data elsewhere.
Related guides
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