Answer patients on WhatsApp

When you need this

The WhatsApp booking assistant books appointments by itself. When it can't help (a patient wants to cancel, asks something only the surgery can answer, or the conversation runs long), it tells the patient the team at your surgery has your message and will reply here, and passes the conversation to you. It does the same with any message that sounds like an emergency, after telling the patient to call your emergency number or go to the nearest emergency department.

Each time, everyone whose role can receive WhatsApp booking alerts gets an email, A patient is waiting on WhatsApp or A patient's WhatsApp message sounded urgent. The email never contains what the patient wrote. Its Open the conversation button brings you here after you sign in. A red number next to WhatsApp in the menu says how many conversations need you.

You can also read any conversation the assistant is having, and take one over to answer the patient yourself.

Steps

1. In the menu, click WhatsApp, just under Dashboard, or click Open the conversation in the email.
2. Waiting lists the patients waiting for your team, newest first; the number on it says how many. With the assistant lists the conversations the assistant is answering now. Emergencies lists every conversation that sounded like an emergency, marked Urgent in red. All lists every conversation.
3. Click a conversation to open it. The patient's messages are on the left and the replies they got on the right, with the time each patient message was sent. The latest is at the bottom.
4. Type your answer in Reply on WhatsApp at the bottom and click Send (or press Ctrl+Enter, ⌘+Enter on a Mac). The patient gets it on WhatsApp, from the number they wrote to. Or click Call (on a phone, it dials).
5. When it's dealt with, click Close.

Taking over a conversation the assistant is answering

1. Open it from With the assistant. It says The assistant is answering this patient, and there is no reply box: you can read, but not reply.
2. Click Take over. The assistant stops answering this patient, and the patient gets You're now chatting with the team at your surgery. The conversation moves to Waiting.
3. Reply and close it as in steps 4 and 5.

What you should see

After Take over: You've taken over. The assistant won't answer this patient now, and the reply box appears.

After Send: Message sent, and your message appears on the right with your name.

After Close: Conversation closed, and the conversation shows Closed. It moves from Waiting to Closed. If the patient writes again, the assistant answers them in a new conversation.

A patient who writes again before you close it gets the same reply, that your team has their message, and what they wrote is added to the conversation.

A patient can also end the conversation themselves by sending restart (or start over). It then shows Closed, with everything they wrote still in it, and the assistant answers their next message. On Modial's number it first asks them which clinic.

If something goes wrong

• No WhatsApp in the menu: your role can't see these conversations. Ask the owner to give your role the permission to read and answer them, under Settings › Roles.
• Nobody gets the email: the owner chooses which roles receive it, under Settings › Roles. It starts with the owner and admin roles.
• Conversation not found: the link is for another business.
• This conversation has ended. If the patient writes again, the assistant starts a new one: the patient stopped writing over a day ago, so there is nothing to take over. Call them if needed.
• The assistant is answering this patient. Take over the conversation first: click Take over before replying.
• "Couldn't close the conversation": try again.
• It's more than 24 hours since the patient's last message, so WhatsApp won't take a reply. Call the patient instead.: WhatsApp's rule. Call the patient.
• WhatsApp only allows a reply within 24 hours of the patient's last message. Call the patient instead: the 24 hours ran out while the page was open. Call the patient.
• Couldn't send the message on WhatsApp. Try again, or call the patient: your message wasn't sent. It stays in the box: click Send again, or call.
• This conversation is closed. Call the patient instead: someone closed it meanwhile, or the patient sent restart.
• This conversation came in on a WhatsApp number your surgery no longer uses. Call the patient instead: the surgery's WhatsApp number was changed since. Call the patient.
• Your message was sent to the patient, but couldn't be saved here. Don't send it again: the patient has it; it just isn't shown in the conversation. Don't click Send again.
• Replying to an emergency: once you reply, the assistant stops answering that patient and the conversation waits for your team.