How patients book online, how portal bookings show in the diary, the weekly Online Bookings report, and video appointments and calls.
Who it is for: practice managers and administrators, clinicians, receptionists.
In this guide:
- Understand how patients book online
- Review the week’s online bookings
- See upcoming video appointments
- Run a video consultation from the appointment
1. Understand how patients book online
You understand how online booking slots are set up and how a portal booking appears in the diary.
Why this matters. Online booking lets patients book routine appointments, such as hygiene visits and check-ups, at any time of day. That cuts phone traffic. But you control what is offered. Patients can only book the times and types the practice has opened up, so they can’t take urgent slots or a two-hour crown prep.
How it is set up (administrators)
- An appointment type is marked as bookable online with Online Type set to Online Booking in its Housekeeping settings.
- A diary event type with Event Type set to Online Booking is linked to that Appointment Type.
- Staff place that diary event in the clinician’s diary over the times patients may book. Patients see those times as free slots in the portal.
- Preferences › Practice Details › Online Booking (Show Online Booking) turns the feature on for the practice.
What you see in the diary
- A portal booking appears as a normal appointment with an online booking icon. It is booked by the practice’s online booking user, a special account with the ONLINE role. That account is not a person.
- Appointment Comment shows that user under Booked By, so you can always tell a booking was made online.
- A portal-created patient may have very few details yet. Check their record and make sure they complete their medical history before the visit.
Good to know
- Treat online bookings like any other: confirm them and send reminders.
- If a patient books the wrong type online, change it with Edit Type / Comment and Change Duration, then let them know.
2. Review the week’s online bookings
You can use the Online Bookings report to check and follow up appointments patients booked themselves.
Why this matters. Online bookings arrive without anyone at the desk seeing them. A quick weekly check helps you spot new patients who need forms, bookings of the wrong type, and patients who booked and then cancelled or didn’t attend.
Where to find it. Go to Online › Online Bookings. The report is called Weekly Online Bookings.
How to
- Open Online Bookings. It shows every booking made through the portal in one Sunday-to-Saturday week. The week is based on when the booking was made, not the appointment date.
- Use Back a week and Forward a week to change the week.
- Read the columns: Booked On (with a time for newer bookings), Appointment (date and time), Patient, DOB, Mobile, Email, Clinician, Appointment Type and Status.
- Status tells you what happened next: Booked, Cancelled, Did Not Attend, Being Moved and so on. Cancelled and missed bookings stay on the list.
- Right-click a row and choose Show this patients summary to open the patient.
- Click Save & Exit to close.
Good to know
- If a week has no online bookings, you’ll see “There are no online bookings for this week”.
- Look out for new patients. Send them the online medical history form (Send Email › Patient Form Email) and check their registration under Online › Online Registrations.
- There’s no print or download for this report yet.
3. See upcoming video appointments
You can find the practice’s video consultation slots and know where the call is made.
Why this matters. Some consultations don’t need the patient in the chair: an orthodontic progress check, a post-op review, a first conversation about implants or aligners, or advice for a patient who is shielding. Video appointments save the patient a journey. They also free up the surgery.
Where to find it. Online › Video Appointments. You’ll only see it if the practice has ticked Show Video Conferencing under Preferences › Practice Details › Video Conferencing.
How to
- Open Video Appointments. Each video slot is shown as a coloured card with its title, date and time, and the name on it.
- Use it to check what video sessions are coming up, and to make sure each patient knows how to join through the portal.
- Close the page with the red exit button at the top right.
Setting up video slots (administrators)
- Make an appointment type with Online Type set to Video Conference, and a diary event type of that kind. Then place video sessions in the clinician’s diary in the same way as online booking slots.
Good to know
- Patients join from the patient portal, so they need a working portal login. Use Resend Portal Ref if they can’t sign in.
- Clicking a card doesn’t book anything yet. Book video appointments in the diary as usual.
- A video consultation is still a clinical appointment. The clinician records notes in the appointment editor in the normal way.
4. Run a video consultation from the appointment
As a clinician, you can start, share your screen in and end a video call from the appointment editor.
Why this matters. Running the call from the appointment keeps everything together: the call, the patient’s record and your notes. The patient joins from their portal and you call them from the Video tab.
Where to find it. Open the appointment from your diary (Goto Appointment) and choose the Video tab. It only appears when the practice has Show Video Conferencing turned on.
How to
- A few minutes before the appointment, open it and go to the Video tab. The panel is headed with the clinician’s name. One side shows the patient and the other shows you.
- Make sure the patient has signed in to the portal and is ready, then click Make Call. The status box shows what is happening.
- Use Share Screen to show the patient something, such as their X-rays, photos or a treatment plan.
- Click End Call when you have finished.
- Write up the consultation on the Notes tab, as you would for any appointment.
Good to know
- If no call can be made, the tab shows “No Video Call is Currently Available”. Check that this is a video appointment.
- Before you share your screen, close any other patient’s records. Share only the window you need.
- Some things can’t be assessed over video. Book a face-to-face visit if you need to examine the patient.
- Use a private room and headphones, so the consultation stays confidential.