A clinic room at the depot and a list that keeps changing
You send a nurse and an audiometry booth to a client's depot for the day. Weeks earlier, your administrator emailed the site's health and safety manager a list of who needs what. He built a timetable in a spreadsheet, sent it back, then sent three revised versions. On the day, some people are on a different shift, two have left, and the night shift manager was never told.
The nurse ends up running a half empty morning and a crowded afternoon, walking the site to find people, and going home with a list of names still to see. You still pay for the day and the travel.
Why clinic days are hard to fill well
- The site contact is doing this on top of their real job.
- Different tests take different amounts of time, which a simple timetable ignores.
- Shift patterns mean some employees are only available at certain times.
- Changes are made by email, and the latest version is unclear.
- Employees are told by a notice on a board or a supervisor, not directly.
In short, the booking is done at arm's length, through a person who has no tool for it, using a list that is out of date by the time it is used.
What a badly filled clinic day costs
The admin cost lands afterwards. Someone has to work out from the nurse's notes who was not seen, contact the site again, and arrange either another visit or individual appointments elsewhere. For surveillance clients, those missed people are also the gaps that show up when the employer's own records are checked.
The fixed cost of sending a clinician, equipment and sometimes a mobile unit is the same whether you see a full list or half of one. Employees who are missed need another visit or an off-site appointment. The site loses production time when people are pulled off the line at the wrong moment. And your clinician's day is spent chasing people rather than seeing them.
| Planning step | Email and spreadsheet | Booking system |
|---|---|---|
| Who needs what | List emailed weeks ahead | Live due list from your records |
| Slot lengths | Same length for everything | Set per test type |
| Shift fit | Guessed by site contact | Employee or supervisor picks a time that works |
| Changes | New spreadsheet version | Rebooked in one place |
| Confirmation | Printed list on the day | Confirmed list sent to the clinician |
The clinic day booking we build
- You create a clinic day for a site with the clinician, room, equipment and available hours.
- The due list for that site is pulled from your records, with the tests each person needs and the time each takes.
- The site contact gets a simple screen to book people into slots, or sends each employee a self-booking link, whichever suits the site.
- Slots respect appointment length, equipment limits such as one audiometry booth, and any breaks the clinician needs.
- Employees get a text with their time, where to go, and what to bring or avoid beforehand as your clinicians specify.
- Changes and cancellations free the slot for someone else on the due list.
- The evening before, the clinician receives the confirmed list, and after the day, anyone not seen is carried to the next clinic or offered an alternative.
Results recorded on the day still go into your clinical system in the usual way. The booking layer handles the logistics around them.
What the day looks like after
The clinician arrives with a confirmed timetable matched to the time each test takes. People turn up because they chose the slot and got a reminder. The site contact spends a few minutes on it rather than an afternoon. And your records show who was seen, who was missed and when they are next booked.
Could this be your clinic days?
- Clinic day timetables go through several spreadsheet versions.
- Clinicians spend part of the day walking the site to find people.
- Mornings are empty and afternoons overrun, or the reverse.
- Night shift or weekend workers are regularly missed.
- Nobody knows who was not seen until the notes are typed up.