The patient check-in kiosk

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    Set up the waiting-room kiosk, help patients use it, deal with the messages it shows and close it safely.

    Who it is for: practice managers and administrators, receptionists.

    In this guide:

    1. Set up the check-in kiosk
    2. Know what patients do at the kiosk
    3. Help a patient the kiosk could not check in
    4. Close or restart the kiosk

    1. Set up the check-in kiosk

    You can create the kiosk’s sign-in, set the staff exit PIN and start the check-in screen.

    Why this matters A self check-in kiosk lets patients tell you they have arrived without queueing at the desk – useful at busy times and for infection control. The kiosk is a tablet or touch screen in the waiting room, signed in with a special account that can only do check-in. It cannot open patient records, so it is safe to leave unattended.

    Where to find it Users › Add User to create the account, and Preferences › Diary Settings, panel Checkin Pad, for the PIN.

    How to

    1. In Users › Add User, create a user for the kiosk, for example “Waiting Room Kiosk”, and choose the role Checkin. Give it a strong password and keep it with the practice manager.
    2. Open Preferences › Diary Settings. In Checkin Pad, type an Exit PIN of 4 to 6 digits. The note under the box says “The new PIN is saved when you save Preferences.” Save Preferences.
    3. On the kiosk device, open your practice’s ChiralCloud address and sign in with the kiosk account. It goes straight to the check-in screen with your practice name and “Patient self check-in”.
    4. Fix the device in place, turn off its sleep timer if you can, and put a sign up telling patients they can check in up to an hour before their appointment.

    Good to know

    • The PIN is checked by the server and stored securely. Nobody can read it back – the note just says “A PIN is set. Type a new one to change it.”
    • If no PIN is set, staff cannot close the kiosk: “No PIN is set yet. Staff need one to close the check-in screen.”
    • Kiosk accounts never use two-step sign-in.
    • You need permission to add users and to change Diary preferences.

    2. Know what patients do at the kiosk

    You can explain the kiosk’s check-in steps to a patient and know what the practice sees afterwards.

    Why this matters Patients, especially older patients and parents with children, will ask for help. If you know each screen you can talk them through it in seconds. It also helps you trust the result: a kiosk check-in marks the appointment as arrived in the diary exactly as if you had done it.

    Where to find it The kiosk in your waiting room.

    How to

    1. Step 1: Date of birth – the patient types the patient’s date of birth on the keypad, using two digits for the day and month (for example 09 03 1974). Clear and the delete key fix mistakes. They tap Next.
    2. Step 2: Surname – they tap the first letter of the patient’s surname. Back returns to the date of birth.
    3. Is this you? – the kiosk shows only a first name and initial, the time and the clinician, such as “Sarah J.” and “9:30am with Dr Patel”. They tap Yes, check me in or No, that’s not me.
    4. You’re checked in – “Please take a seat. We’ll call you when Dr Patel is ready.” The screen clears itself after a few seconds, or they tap Check in someone else for the next family member.
    5. In ChiralCloud the appointment shows as arrived and the time appears in the Checkin column of the CheckIn reports.

    Good to know

    • Patients can check in from 1 hour before their appointment until 30 minutes after it starts.
    • If a patient walks away mid-way, the kiosk resets itself after a short time. Start again resets it at once.
    • The kiosk deliberately shows very little, so a stranger cannot learn anything about another patient.

    3. Help a patient the kiosk could not check in

    You can recognise each ‘Please speak to reception’ message and know what to do.

    Why this matters When the kiosk cannot check someone in, it sends them to you with a polite message. It never says why in detail – that protects patients’ privacy – so you need to know what the messages usually mean.

    Where to find it The kiosk screen the patient shows you.

    How to Check the patient in at the desk as normal (right-click the appointment and choose Patient Has Arrived), then use the message to fix the cause:

    • We couldn’t check you in here – no matching appointment in the check-in window. Common causes: wrong date of birth, a different surname on the record, the appointment is for another day, or they are more than an hour early or over 30 minutes late. Correct the record if the details are wrong.
    • You’re already checked in – “You checked in at…”. Nothing to do; reassure them.
    • Check-in is paused for a moment – too many failed tries in a short time. It unlocks itself after a couple of minutes.
    • Sorry, check-in isn’t working at the moment or Sorry, we couldn’t finish checking you in – a system or network problem. Check the kiosk’s internet connection.
    • Check-in isn’t available at the moment – the kiosk’s sign-in has ended. A member of staff needs to sign it in again (next step).

    Good to know

    • Done on a message screen returns the kiosk to Step 1.
    • If the same patient fails repeatedly, look at their date of birth and surname on the record – a typo in either will stop the kiosk finding them.

    4. Close or restart the kiosk

    You can use the hidden staff lock and the exit PIN to close the kiosk or sign it in again.

    Why this matters At the end of the day, or to fix a problem, staff need to take the kiosk out of check-in mode. Patients must not be able to do this, so there is no visible “staff” button – just a small lock that has to be held down, followed by a PIN.

    Where to find it The small lock icon at the foot of the kiosk screen.

    How to

    1. Press and hold the lock for about a second and a half. A tap does nothing.
    2. The Staff access screen asks you to “Enter the staff PIN to close the check-in screen”.
    3. Type the Exit PIN on the keypad and tap Enter. Clear empties it.
    4. If the PIN is right, the kiosk signs out and shows the practice sign-in page. Sign in with the kiosk account to restart check-in, or leave it signed out overnight.
    5. If you tap Cancel, or leave the keypad alone for 30 seconds, it goes back to the check-in screen.

    If something goes wrong

    • “That PIN isn’t right. 3 tries left.” – try again carefully.
    • “Too many wrong tries. Please wait a minute, then try again.” – the keypad locks for about a minute.
    • “No staff PIN has been set yet…” – ask an administrator to set one in Preferences › Diary Settings › Checkin Pad.
    • If the kiosk shows Check-in isn’t available at the moment, press and hold the lock there to reach the sign-in page and sign the kiosk in again.

    Good to know

    • Keep the PIN to staff only, and change it if it might have been seen.
    Updated on 4th November 2026

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