Book Appointments

After you have configured your session templates and sessions have been inserted, either manually or automatically, you can book appointments.

The appointment book provides a one-day view. The sessions for a provider are listed in a single column. Each cell in the column is a single appointment timeslot. Different providers may have different length appointments, so times may not be aligned across the grid.
Example appointment book showing blank appointment slots of different lengths for two different providers

In this example, Dr Benbrow's appointments are 15 minutes long, while Dr Ellison's appointments are 30 minutes long. The time of the appointment and its length are displayed in the blue banner for each timeslot.

Tip:
Appointment timeslots during public holidays and planned absences are not displayed. Instead, a single cell is displayed giving details of the holiday or absence so that you can see why no appointments are available and when a provider will be back from leave.
To book an appointment:
  1. In the Appointment Book, if you have multiple sites, in the Filter Place & Mode pane, select a mode and place. This is important when multiple sites or separate waiting rooms are used. If you select an Administrative Encounter Place, appointments at all Service Encounter Places that belong to it are displayed.
  2. If your health service books appointments from more than one workstation, to update your display to the latest appointment details, click Refresh buttonRefresh or press F5.
  3. Search for a free appointment slot:
    • To search for a free appointment for today or a specific day, in the View Date & Status pane, select Free Appointments. The Appointment Book displays only free appointment timeslots.
      Free Appointments today selected
    • If there are no appointments available today, or for the selected date, to search for the next available appointment:
      1. In the Free Appointment Search pane, select which providers (all, female or male) and the type of appointment the patient requires.
        Next Available Free Appointment options
      2. Click Go to the first day with available appointments buttonPlay to go to the first day with available appointments.
      3. If there are no suitable appointments on that day, click Go to the next day with available appointments buttonForward to go to the next day with available appointments or Go to the prior day with available appointments buttonBack to go to a previous day with available appointments.
    Tip:
    To return to today's appointments, click Today's appointments buttonToday.
  4. If the patient requires a double appointment, select two adjacent timeslots and click Merge buttonMerge.
    Tip:
    If you later need to make this timeslot two single appointments again, select it and click Unmerge buttonUnmerge.
  5. Select a free appointment timeslot and click Book selected appointment buttonBook or press CTRL+Enter.
  6. In the Select patient to book appointment window (Patient search), enter the name of the patient for whom you're booking, select that patient in the list and click Select iconSelect Patient.
    If you are booking for a new patient, first search for any existing record, then click New Patient.
  7. The appointment is summarised in the Appointment Details window. Complete any extra booking information and click Select iconSave.
    For more information, see Appointment Details.
The selected patient is booked into the appointment timeslot.