Book an appointment

Every booking is made on one page, New appointment. You fill it in from top to bottom: the procedure, the client, the branch and date, a free time, and finally the notes and delivery details.

Where to start

You can open New appointment from any of these places:

• Appointments list — in the sidebar, open Appointments → Appointments and click New appointment.
• Calendar — open Appointments → Calendar, switch to the Week or Day view and click an empty spot in a day's column. The page opens with that day already chosen. You still pick the exact time on the page. (In the Month view, clicking a day only opens that day in the Day view.)
• A client's profile — click New Visit at the top of the profile, or open the Appointments tab and click Book appointment. The client is already filled in.
• The Clients list — select a client to open the side panel, then click Book Appointment. The client is already filled in.
• Search — open the search window and choose New appointment.

If you can't see these buttons, you don't have permission to create appointments, or the Appointments module is off for your clinic. Ask your administrator.

The "Set up booking" panel

If your clinic is not ready to take bookings, a Set up booking panel appears at the top of the page. It lists what is missing, for example Add a procedure, Add a doctor or a room, Set working hours or Say what each procedure needs, with a button that takes you to the fix. Open a booking shift is listed under Optional: you only need it for walk-in queues. The panel disappears once everything is in place.

Most of these fixes are admin tasks. See Set up booking.

Step by step

1. Procedure

Pick what the visit is from the list. Each procedure shows its length. The procedure decides how long the appointment is and which doctor, room or equipment it needs.

If you have permission to create procedures, Add New Procedure lets you create one without leaving the page. If your clinic has no procedures at all, you see No procedure templates yet with an Add procedure templates button.

2. Client

Search for the client by typing their name. If the client has a primary doctor, it is shown under the field as Primary doctor.

If the client is new, click + New client. This opens the full Add client page. After you save the client, you come back to New appointment with that client selected and the date kept. Check the procedure and branch again before you continue.

3. Branch & date

1. Choose the Branch where the visit takes place. It starts on the branch selected in the sidebar's branch switcher. If your clinic doesn't use the Branches module, this field isn't shown, the step is titled 3. Date, and the visit is booked at your clinic's main branch.
2. Choose the Date. Past days can't be picked. The calendar also has quick choices such as Today and Tomorrow.

The free times in the next step cover the whole week that contains the date you pick, starting from now.

4. Pick a slot

Free times are grouped by day and then by Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Each time shows its start and end and the doctor who will see the client. Click a time to select it.

• Preferred doctor — choose a doctor to see only their times, or Any available to see everyone. If the client has a primary doctor, this starts on that doctor. The field is hidden when your clinic has only one doctor.
• Join a queue — if a walk-in queue is open for this procedure at this branch during the week, it appears above the times. It shows the doctor, the queue's hours and Tokens issued. Click Join queue to give the client the next number instead of a fixed time. A full queue shows Queue full and can't be joined. You choose either a queue or a time, not both.

The free times appear only once you have chosen a procedure, a branch and a date.

Custom fields

If your administrator has set up custom fields for appointments, a Custom fields section appears after step 4. Fields marked with a red asterisk are required, and the booking won't save until you fill them in. If no custom fields are set up, this section doesn't appear.

5. Notes & confirm

• Initial status — new appointments start as Requested (default). If the client has already confirmed, you can choose the next status here; with the standard setup that is Confirmed. If the appointment can't move to that status yet (for example, a required check on the appointment is not done), it stays Requested and you see an error message. You can change the status later on the appointment's page.
• Delivery — In person or Online. This starts on the procedure's default and you can change it. See Video consultations below.
• Notes (optional) — a short note for the team, for example "client prefers morning slots".
• Client-facing label (optional) — shown to the client instead of the procedure name, for sensitive visits.
• Repeat this appointment — see Recurring appointments below.

Then click one of the buttons at the bottom:

• Book appointment — saves the booking and opens the appointment's page.
• Book & add another — saves the booking and keeps the page open with the same procedure, branch and date, so you can book the next client straight away. The client, the time and the notes are cleared.
• Cancel — leaves without booking and goes back to the appointments list.

How free times are decided

A time is offered only when everything the procedure needs is free at the same moment: for example the doctor and, if the procedure needs one, the room or the equipment. For each of these, MediSync starts from its weekly working hours and then removes:

• times already taken by other appointments,
• time off and other blocked periods,
• times in the past.

Extra hours added for a specific date are added to the working hours. Only resources at the branch you chose are considered, and the gap must be long enough for the whole procedure.

When there are no free times, the page shows No available slots with the reason it found, and often a button to fix it. The reasons are:

• No resource that can do the procedure has working hours yet. A doctor, room or equipment with no recurring schedule is never offered. Use Open resource schedules.
• The resources are already booked, on time off, or outside their working hours for that week. Try another week, or use Open resource schedules to review them.
• The branch has no active resource that matches what the procedure needs. Add one, or ask an admin to change the procedure.
• The procedure lists no required resources. Use Open procedure templates and add at least one.
• The resources are free, but never at the same time, or no free gap is long enough for the procedure. Try another week.
• The preferred doctor has no free times. Click Show all doctors to see the other doctors' times. The message lists who is available.

These buttons open in a new browser tab, so what you have already entered on the booking page is kept.

Recurring appointments

To book the same visit several times:

1. Pick a time in step 4 for the first visit. Repeating works only with a time, not with a queue.
2. In step 5, tick Repeat this appointment.
3. Set Frequency to Weekly, Every 2 weeks or Monthly.
4. Set Occurrences — the total number of visits, from 2 to 52.
5. Click Book N appointments (the button shows the number).

Every visit is at the same time of day, with the same doctor, room and equipment as the first. If one of the dates is already taken, that visit is skipped and the others are still booked. The message tells you how many were booked and how many were skipped. After booking, the page of the first visit opens.

Each visit gets everything you filled in on step 5: Delivery, Meeting link, notes, Client-facing label and custom fields. Each visit also gets your clinic's automatic reminders. If you chose an Initial status, it is applied to every visit. A visit that can't move to that status stays Requested, and you see the message Transition rejected.

Video consultations

Set Delivery to Online in step 5.

• If your clinic has the Telehealth Video Calls module, the page shows "MediSync creates and manages the video link for this appointment." The video room is created when you book. You don't paste a link.
• If the module is off, a Meeting link field appears instead. Paste the link of the video service you use (it is optional).

Some procedures are set up as online visits, so Delivery may already show Online when you pick them. For hosting the call, see Video consultations.

After you book

• You see the message Appointment booked, and the appointment's page opens (unless you used Book & add another).
• The appointment starts as Requested, unless you chose another Initial status.
• MediSync adds reminders automatically, based on your clinic's reminder settings. By default these are email reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before the visit. Email reminders are only added if the client has an email address. Reminders whose time has already passed are not added.
• You can check, add or delete reminders in the Reminders section of the appointment's page (Add reminder).
• The appointment shows in the appointments list, on the calendar and in the client's Appointments tab.

Common problems

"Pick a procedure, branch, and date range to see available slots." One of steps 1–3 is still empty.

No free times. Read the reason shown under No available slots (see How free times are decided). Also try another date, another branch, or Any available under Preferred doctor.

I can't choose a particular doctor. Preferred doctor only lists active doctors, and is hidden when there is only one. A doctor appears in a time only if they have working hours at the chosen branch and can perform the procedure.

I can't choose a room or equipment. You don't choose them yourself. MediSync assigns the room and equipment the procedure needs, as part of the time you pick.

The Book buttons stay greyed out. You need a procedure, a client, a branch, and either a time or a queue.

There is no Join a queue section. Queues only appear when an admin has opened a Queue-based Scheduling booking shift for this branch during that week, for a doctor who can perform the procedure. Procedures that need more than one resource (for example a doctor and a room) can't use a queue.

"You don't have permission to do this, or this module isn't enabled." Your role can't create appointments, or the Appointments module is off. Ask your administrator.

"This time slot is no longer available." Another booking took the time while you were filling in the page. Pick another time and book again.