Same-day and planned GP appointments in one calendar

Keep two kinds of slots: planned appointments that patients can book days or weeks ahead, and same-day slots that you only open on the morning itself. If every slot is open weeks in advance, the diary fills with routine visits and a patient who falls ill today finds nothing. Creating a block of same-day slots each morning, and keeping a few for patients who call, gives both kinds of patients a real chance to be seen.

These services and prices are examples. On Book, each service has a name, an optional description shown on your page, and a price, and each slot belongs to one service with its own start and end. Same-day and planned consultations can be the same medical act; making them separate services is what lets you open them at different times.

Build a standard week of planned consultations and repeat it on the weekdays you choose, until an end date a few weeks or months away. Patients who want a routine visit, a check on a long-term treatment or a certificate can pick a time that suits them. Extend the end date from time to time so the diary never runs dry.

Book has no setting that holds slots back until a given day, so the simple method is to create them when the day starts. Each morning, create a block of same-day slots, for example between 11:00 and 12:00 and between 17:00 and 18:00. They appear on your page at once and are taken by patients who need to be seen today. A slot with one place disappears as soon as it's booked.

If creating them daily is too much, create them the evening before. Either way, write in the service description that these slots are for patients who need to be seen the same day.

Some patients won't book online: older patients, patients without a smartphone, or those who prefer to call. Don't open all your same-day capacity online. Keep a few slots unopened, and when a patient calls, create the slot and book it for them from your calendar. First and last name are required; phone and email are optional.

Book gives one booking page per practice, and slots aren't assigned to a named doctor. If two GPs share a page, the honest workaround is one service per doctor, such as "Consultation, Dr Martin" and "Same-day, Dr Martin", each with its own slots. Patients then choose their doctor by choosing the service. Keep names and descriptions consistent, so a patient who always sees the same doctor finds them easily.

An online booking page is for appointments, not emergencies. Put it clearly in your service descriptions: patients with an emergency should call the emergency number of your country, not book a slot. Keep the wording short and visible, on each service patients can book.

The booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note. The note appears in the new booking email you receive and in the calendar file the patient gets, so ask patients to keep it short and not to write detailed medical information there. A few words such as "follow-up", "certificate" or "child, 6 years" are enough to prepare.

Patients can't move their appointments online. If you need to move one, reschedule it from your bookings list and call or message the patient, since Book doesn't email patients about changes. Calendar sync with Google, iPhone or Mac shows the day's list on your phone.

Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited bookings, no commission and no contract. It doesn't handle medical records, prescriptions or payments; those stay in your practice software.