Two patients, one 10:20 appointment
Your clinic lists its GPs on a couple of doctor directory sites, takes bookings through a widget on your own website, answers the phone, and has a few corporate clients who book through their own portal. On Tuesday, two patients arrive for the 10:20 with Dr Shah. One booked on a directory site last night, the other rang yesterday afternoon and was given the same slot by reception.
Someone has to wait, or be seen by a different doctor, or be sent away with an apology. Later, reception spend an hour going through the directory's dashboard to block out the slots that were already taken, and the directory's calendar is out of date again by Thursday.
Why the channels drift apart
Each booking channel has its own calendar. Some directories sync with certain practice systems through a proper integration. Others only offer a separate availability calendar that staff update by hand, or a two-way calendar sync with a delay that is long enough for clashes at busy times.
Your own website widget may pull availability from the practice system, but corporate portals and email bookings often do not. Sessional GPs change their sessions at short notice, and that change reaches some channels and not others.
There is also no shared record of where bookings come from. Directories charge a fee or commission, and without knowing which bookings came through which channel, you cannot tell whether the fee is worth paying.
What diary clashes cost
| Problem | Effect on the clinic |
|---|---|
| Double-booked slots | Waiting patients, apologies, possible refunds |
| Manual blocking out | Reception time spent updating every calendar |
| Stale availability | Patients shown slots that do not exist |
| Session changes | A GP's cancelled session still bookable online |
| Unknown booking source | Directory fees paid without knowing the return |
Directory reviews make this worse. A patient turned away after booking online can post their frustration on the same directory where the next patient is choosing a GP.
How we make one diary the master
- We confirm which system holds the true diary, usually your practice management system, and treat every other channel as a window onto it.
- Channels with a proper integration or API are connected so availability comes from the master diary and bookings are written straight back to it.
- Channels that only offer a calendar feed are synced as often as they allow, and slots are held back from them near the time of the appointment, where clashes are most likely, if you choose.
- Channels with no sync, such as corporate portal emails, become booking requests that land in a queue for reception to confirm against the master diary, instead of being entered straight in.
- Session changes for sessional GPs are made once in the master diary and pushed out to every connected channel.
- Each booking is tagged with its source, so a monthly report shows bookings, cancellations and attendance per channel.
A calmer front desk
Reception stop maintaining several calendars. Online availability reflects the real diary, so patients book slots that exist. When a GP drops a session, it disappears everywhere. Clashes, when they still happen through a slow channel, are caught in the request queue rather than in the waiting room.
And for the first time, you can see which channels bring patients who attend and rebook, and which mostly bring cancellations, which helps when a directory subscription comes up for renewal.
Is your diary split across channels?
- Patients book you on more than one website
- Reception block out slots on directory calendars by hand
- Two patients have turned up for the same appointment
- A cancelled GP session was still bookable online
- You cannot say how many patients each directory sends