Recall visits: book the next cleaning before patients leave

The simplest way to keep recall patients coming back is to book their next visit before they leave the chair. Decide the interval with the patient, at three, four or six months or whatever you recommend for them, open your slots far enough ahead, and book the next cleaning yourself from your calendar while they're still with you. If you enter their email, they get a confirmation with a calendar file they can add to their phone. Book doesn't send reminders, so the booking made in the room is what does the work.

A patient who leaves with "come back in six months" has to remember it, find a free evening and book it. A patient who leaves with a date already has it in their calendar. For you, it also means you know months in advance how full your recall days are, and which weeks still have room for new patients or longer treatments.

It takes a minute: at the end of the cleaning, open your calendar, pick a slot around the right date with the patient, and create the booking. First and last name are required; email, phone and a note are optional.

These intervals are examples: you set the right one for each patient. What matters for planning is that each recall visit is booked in the right service, so the slot has the right length. A gum maintenance patient booked into a short routine slot will make your whole afternoon late.

You can only book a patient six months out if slots exist six months out. Build your standard week once and repeat it: a slot can be repeated on the weekdays you choose, until an end date you set. Set that end date well beyond your longest recall interval, for example a few weeks past six months, and extend it from time to time.

When you know you'll be closed, for a holiday or a training day, delete those slots early. That way no recall visit lands on a day you're away, and you don't have to move patients later.

If every slot is taken by recalls, new patients and urgent sensitivity checks can't find anything. One simple approach is to keep some slots free from recall bookings, for example the last slots of certain days, so that patients booking online still see availability in the coming weeks. You decide the balance; Book shows online only the slots that are still free.

When you book the recall visit yourself, add a short note: "6-month recall, check lower left" or "gum maintenance, compare with last chart". You'll see it in the booking when the day comes, and it's included in the new booking email and in the calendar file the patient receives. Keep medical details in your patient records, not in the note: write only what helps you prepare.

Book sends a confirmation email when the booking is created, and nothing after that. Six months is a long time, so help patients keep the date:

With calendar sync, the whole recall schedule is also in your own Google, iPhone or Mac calendar, which makes it easy to glance at next week's list and contact anyone you want to remind.

Recall dates set far ahead will sometimes move. You can reschedule or cancel a booking from your bookings list, but the patient isn't emailed when you do, so confirm the new date with them directly, by phone or email. If they'd rather pick a new date themselves, cancel the old booking and ask them to book online; they'll get a new confirmation.

Some patients will prefer not to book months ahead. Keep your own list of who is due and when, in your patient software or a simple spreadsheet, and send them your booking page link when the time comes. They choose a slot of the right service online, fill in their name, email and phone, and you receive an email for the new booking.

Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited bookings and services, no commission, no contract. It doesn't handle payments or reminders; it gives you a booking page and a calendar that patients and you both book into.