A group class, a one-to-one and a hire booking at the same time
Your clinic has a hydrotherapy pool, used for one-to-one sessions, small groups and occasionally hired to a local charity or another therapist. The pool is booked in a paper diary at reception, in the clinic system as a room, and in a separate calendar for hire bookings.
One afternoon, a group of six arrives for a class while a physio is mid-way through a one-to-one, and the charity's hire slot starts in half an hour. Nobody has blocked time for the water tests the pool procedures require between sessions, and changing rooms are full. The physio running the class spends the first fifteen minutes sorting it out.
Why a pool is not just another room
A pool has capacity, changing room limits, changeover time, and checks that your operating procedures require at set intervals. It may need two staff present for some sessions. Patients need time to change before and after. Hire users need clear arrival and departure times.
Clinic systems can book rooms, but they rarely understand these rules. So the pool ends up booked in several places, and the rules are enforced by whoever is at reception.
Different users also expect different things. A physio running a one-to-one wants the pool to themselves. A group needs space for several people and perhaps an assistant. A hire user wants a clear slot and an invoice. Reception have to keep all of that in mind while answering the phone, and every clash lands on them to sort out.
The water testing log is also often on paper by the poolside, separate from the timetable, so it is hard to see whether checks happened when they should.
What pool clashes cost
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Overlapping bookings | Sessions delayed or cancelled |
| No changeover time | Changing rooms overcrowded, sessions run late |
| Checks not scheduled | Tests squeezed in or missed |
| Hire bookings separate | Outside users clash with clinic sessions |
| Staffing rules forgotten | Sessions without the required staff present |
How we schedule the pool properly
- The pool is set up as a resource with its capacity, changeover time and staffing rules, and one-to-one, group and hire bookings all use the same timetable.
- Time for the checks your procedures require is blocked automatically at the intervals you set.
- Group sessions have participant limits and a register, and one-to-ones reserve the pool or share it according to your rules.
- Hire bookings are made through a form, with your terms, and appear on the same timetable.
- Bookings that break a rule, such as a session with insufficient staff, are flagged for a person to fix.
- Staff record water tests on a tablet by the pool, next to the timetable, so the log and the schedule live together.
Pool operating procedures, test intervals and staffing requirements are set by your clinic and its advisers. The system schedules around them.
After the change
One timetable shows every use of the pool. Changeovers and checks happen at the planned times. Hire users arrive to a pool that is ready for them. Physios run sessions without clashes. The pool log is complete and sits next to the schedule, which makes it easier to show what was done when.
The pool is also an expensive asset, and the timetable shows how much it is used. You can see quiet periods that could be offered for hire, or popular times where adding a group session would help, and make those decisions from real booking data rather than impressions.
Hire income improves as well, because outside users can see available time and book it, instead of emailing to ask and waiting for a reply.
Does your pool diary look like this?
- The pool is booked in more than one place
- Sessions have overlapped or run into each other
- Changeover and check time is not built into the timetable
- Hire bookings are in a separate calendar
- The water test log is a paper sheet by the pool