Manage the doctors' calendar

When you need this

You book patients into a doctor's free times, take time out of a doctor's day (a ward round, leave, a meeting), or set the days and times a doctor sees patients. The Calendar tab shows one day, with a column for each doctor.

All times are the practice's own clock: the time zone set for the business. If you use the app from a computer in another time zone, you still see and set the practice's times, and a yellow label beside the date says which, for example Harare time. Point at it to see both clocks, for example Times are Harare time (19:27 now). Your computer is on London time (18:27). The Weekly hours and Block time panels say it too, above the times.

Steps

See a day:

1. Open Appointments in the menu and press the Calendar tab.
2. Use the arrows or Today, or press the date to pick another day. Beside the date, Today, Tomorrow or In 4 days says how far it is from today. Doctors shows one doctor, or All.
3. Each doctor with weekly hours has a column of their slots: Free, Booked, Checked in, Seen, and Blocked time (striped). The red line is the time now. Scroll inside the calendar to see the rest of the day; the doctors' names stay at the top.
4. Doctors with no weekly hours don't get a column. A line above the calendar says how many there are.
5. Press a slot to see who or what is in it, on the right. On a phone, pick the doctor at the top, then press a slot.

📷 calendar-day – out of date: taken before the date picker and the time-zone label

Book a patient into a free slot:

1. Press a Free slot, then Book this slot.
2. The doctor, the day and the slot are already chosen. Find the patient and press Book Appointment.

Check in a walk-in: press a Free slot that is running now or starts within 30 minutes, then Check in a walk-in. Find the patient and press Book Appointment; the check-in page opens next. Later slots, and other days, only offer Book this slot: nobody can be checked in for later. On today's calendar, New walk-in at the top checks someone in without choosing a slot, as on the Today tab.

Set a doctor's weekly hours (needed once per doctor, then slots open on their own):

1. Press Weekly hours under the doctor's name. For a doctor with no weekly hours yet, choose them in Set hours for… above the calendar (or under No doctor has weekly hours yet).
2. Choose the Slot length.
3. Switch on each day the doctor works and set the times. Press + Add hours for a second set of times in the same day, for example after lunch.
4. Press Save hours.

Block time:

1. Press Block time under the doctor's name. Or press a Free slot and then Block this slot, or drag down over several free slots (or press one, then Shift-press another) and press Block these slots.
2. Choose the Doctor, the Day, and the times (From and To), or switch on Whole day.
3. Add a Reason if you like. Staff see it on the calendar; patients don't.
4. If patients are booked in that time, they're listed. They stay booked: press Move to give them another slot.
5. Press Block time.

Unblock time: press the striped Blocked time, then Unblock. The doctor's free slots come back.

For a booked patient: press their slot, then Check in, Move to another slot, Open appointment, or Cancel appointment. Someone booked with Book prospective patient isn't a patient yet: Check in opens New patient with the name, phone and email from the booking. Add the rest (date of birth, gender, ID) and press Register patient, or press Back to search if they're already a patient.

A patient who booked themselves is marked Booked online (the booking page or the patient portal) or Booked on WhatsApp, under the time in their slot's panel. The same mark shows on Appointments › Today, Upcoming and Past, on the appointment and when you check them in. Bookings made by your team, and bookings made before this mark was added, have none. Many patients who book online are already patients, so search for them before you register them.

Under the patient's name you may also see:

• Not registered yet: the booking isn't linked to a patient record. Check in finds or registers them, or use Link patient in the row's menu.
• Medical aid: the visit is billed to a medical aid.
• Copay due: the patient has a copay to pay.

These show on Appointments › Today, Upcoming and Past, in the slot's panel and on the appointment.

What you should see

• After Save hours, the doctor's free slots appear on the days they work, four weeks ahead. New weeks open on their own.
• The slots are at the practice's times, whichever computer set the hours.
• After Block time, the time shows as striped Blocked with its reason, and nobody can book into it.
• After Unblock, the doctor's free slots are back in that time.

If something goes wrong

• Nobody works on Sundays (or Dr … doesn't work on Sundays): no doctor shown works that day. Press Go to … for the next day someone does.
• A doctor's column is grey: they don't work that day, or have no slots. A note at the top says when to act:
  • Slots open on …: slots open four weeks ahead, so this day's open on that date.
  • No slots this day: check their Weekly hours.
• Patients are booked from … to …. Move them to other times first.: you removed hours that still have patients booked in them. Move those patients, then save the hours again.
• Slots are an hour or more away from the doctor's hours: the business's time zone is wrong. Ask support to correct it; the free slots move to the right times overnight. Patients already booked keep their times, so move them if they need to.
• Some of this time is already blocked: unblock the existing block first, or block the time around it.
• The time stays blocked: the doctor's slots couldn't be made again: the time is still blocked. Try Unblock again; if it keeps happening, open the doctor's Weekly hours and press Save hours.
• You don't see the Calendar tab, Block time or Weekly hours: your role doesn't have the Appointment slot permissions. Ask the owner to add them on your role.
• A lab has no Calendar tab: its doctors are the ones who refer patients, with no hours to book into.