A full diary and a podiatrist who will not be there
One of your podiatrists is going on leave for several weeks, or has called in sick for the rest of the week. Their diary is full: routine care patients on six to eight week recall, home visits on a round, a nail surgery follow-up, a verruca course halfway through, a care home visit.
Reception prints the diary and starts phoning. Some patients are moved to a colleague, some are pushed back, some are not reached. Home visit patients are the hardest, because the colleague covering works a different area on different days.
Why cover is so hard to organise
- Each patient has different needs: some can wait, some should not, some need a particular skill.
- Colleagues have their own full diaries, and different skills and areas.
- Phoning every patient takes days, and many do not answer.
- Patients mid-course or post-surgery need continuity, which is easy to miss in a long list.
- Nobody can see who has been moved, who has been told, and who is still in limbo.
What disorganised cover costs
Patients who turn up for an appointment that was cancelled but not communicated. Post-surgery or mid-course patients left without follow-up. Reception tied up on the phone for days. Colleagues overbooked in some weeks and quiet in others. And patients who feel the clinic let them down.
| Patient type | What they need | How cover handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Routine care | Next visit within their interval | Offered a colleague or a later date |
| Home visit round | A podiatrist who covers their area | Offered the colleague's round in that area |
| Mid-course | Session at the right spacing | Priority placement with a suitable colleague |
| Post-surgery follow-up | Dressing check on time | Flagged for a podiatrist to place |
| Care home | The home's visit | Moved as a block with the home informed |
How we build the cover plan
- When leave is entered, all affected appointments are listed with the patient, appointment type, and any flag such as mid-course or post-surgery.
- Patients are sorted by priority under rules your clinical lead sets, so the ones who should not wait are handled first.
- For each patient, the system suggests colleagues with the right skills, area and free slots, drawing on Cliniko, WriteUpp or your diary.
- Priority patients are placed by a person. Routine patients receive a message with options: a named colleague at a suggested time, or a later date with their own podiatrist, and they reply or click to choose.
- Care home and round visits are moved in blocks, with the home or patients informed.
- A tracker shows every affected patient as moved, offered, waiting or unreachable, with a call list for the last group.
- When the podiatrist returns, their patients' future bookings return to them if that is what the patient chose.
Messages to patients are written in your clinic's voice and say only what they need to: that their podiatrist is away, the options, and how to choose. Nothing about the reason for the absence is shared, which matters when a colleague is off sick.
What cover looks like afterwards
Priority patients are placed first. Routine patients choose their option without a phone call. Home visit and care home work moves in sensible blocks. Reception works a short list of people who could not be reached, rather than the whole diary. And everyone can see where the cover plan stands.
Is leave cover chaotic at your clinic?
- Leave means reception phoning down a printed diary.
- Some patients are not told their appointment has moved.
- Home visit patients are hard to cover.
- Mid-course or post-surgery patients are sometimes missed.
- You cannot see who has been moved and who has not.