An allocation email at 4:55 on a Friday
Your clinic is part of one or more physiotherapy networks that manage treatment on behalf of insurers and employers. When a patient in your area needs physio, the network allocates them to you by email or through its portal, with requirements: contact the patient within a set time, offer a first appointment within another, submit an initial assessment report by a deadline.
An allocation arrives late on Friday. Reception see it on Monday, ring the patient, and by then the contact deadline has passed. The network logs it. A few of those and your clinic receives fewer allocations, without anyone ever saying why.
Why network deadlines are missed
Allocations arrive through channels that were not built for urgency: a shared inbox, a portal that sends a notification email, sometimes a phone call. They sit alongside marketing emails, invoices and patient messages.
Each network has different deadlines, and some count hours rather than working days. Reception may not know which network a patient came from, let alone its rules. The physio who assesses the patient may not know that an initial report is due, or in which format.
Staff changes make it worse. The receptionist who knew that one network counts its contact window in hours, not working days, leaves, and the knowledge goes with them. The new person treats every allocation like an ordinary enquiry, and the clinic's performance quietly slips.
Networks measure performance, and they route work to clinics that meet their targets. The consequences of missing deadlines are gradual and invisible, which makes them easy to ignore until volume has already dropped.
What missed network deadlines cost
| Missed deadline | Result |
|---|---|
| Patient contact | Allocation logged as late, sometimes reassigned |
| First appointment | Performance score drops |
| Initial report | Treatment approval delayed |
| Discharge report | Invoice held until it arrives |
| Pattern of lateness | Fewer allocations over time |
How we track every allocation's clock
- Allocation emails and portal notifications are detected as they arrive and turned into a case record: network, patient, reference and the deadlines that apply.
- Deadlines are calculated from each network's rules as you record them, including out-of-hours arrivals.
- Reception get an alert as soon as a new allocation arrives and a second alert as the contact deadline approaches.
- The first appointment is booked in your clinic system with the network reference attached.
- The physio sees which reports are due for each network case, with the network's template ready.
- A dashboard shows every open network case against its deadlines, and monthly performance by network.
Where a network's own portal already provides good alerts, we connect to it or rely on it, rather than duplicating it.
What changes
Allocations are seen the moment they arrive, even late on Friday, by whoever is on duty. Patients are contacted within the window. Reports go in on time and in the right format. The clinic lead can see performance by network and fix problems before the network notices them. Over time, a clinic that reliably meets deadlines tends to be trusted with more work.
Reception also feel the difference. Instead of dreading a Monday inbox that might contain something overdue, they see allocations as they arrive, with the deadline next to each one, and can deal with them in order of urgency.
It also becomes clear which networks are worth the admin. Some send steady work with sensible deadlines. Others send little and demand a lot. With the figures in front of you, you can decide where to focus.
Is this how allocations reach you?
- Network allocations land in a shared inbox
- Contact deadlines are missed after weekends
- Reception do not know each network's rules
- Physios are unsure which reports each network needs
- You have noticed fewer allocations without knowing why