Short follow-up slots next to long homeopathy consultations
Long first consultations fill a day fast. How homeopaths can keep short follow-up slots in their week so returning patients find a date without waiting.
6 min read
Keep a few blocks of short follow-up slots in your week, separate from your long first consultations, and don't let new patients book into them. A first homeopathy consultation can take an hour or more, so a handful of them fills a day, and a returning patient who needs a quick follow-up finds nothing for weeks. Make follow-ups their own service, open them in short slots at fixed times, and reserve them for patients you have already seen.
Why long consultations crowd out follow-ups
A first consultation takes time: the patient's history, their habits, what they have already tried, and the questions that come up along the way. If your page only offers slots of that length, every free hour looks the same to a new patient, and they take them. A patient you saw a month ago, who needs twenty minutes to tell you how things went, has to wait behind them or book a long slot they don't need.
The fix is not more hours. It is giving each kind of visit its own service and its own slots, so both kinds of patient find a place.
Set up two kinds of service
On Book, a service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Each slot belongs to one service with its own start and end. A patient who picks a service only sees that service's free slots.
| Service | Example slot | Example price | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| First consultation | 75 min | €65 | For new patients: history, habits, first prescription |
| Follow-up consultation | 30 min | €40 | For patients already seen: how things went, adjustments |
| Short follow-up, video | 20 min | €30 | For patients already seen, by video |
Lengths and prices are examples: use your own. The important part is the description. Write "for patients already seen" on every follow-up service, so a new patient doesn't pick a 30-minute slot for what should be a first consultation.
Group short slots into blocks
Scattering 30-minute slots between long consultations leaves awkward gaps. Grouping them works better:
- one or two half-days a week made only of follow-up slots;
- or the last two hours of each day, after the long consultations;
- video follow-ups at the start of the day, before the first patient arrives.
Create the slots on the weekdays you choose and repeat them each week until an end date. Your long consultations stay in their own blocks, and your follow-up blocks stay open for returning patients. Book shows slot times in your time zone and displays its name, which helps if some video patients live elsewhere.
Who books the follow-up
Two ways work, and you can use both. At the end of a consultation, agree on when the patient should come back and book the follow-up yourself from your calendar: first and last name are required, email and phone optional, and a short note if useful. If you add their email, the patient receives the confirmation email and calendar file. Or tell the patient to book a follow-up slot online when the time comes, with no account needed.
When patients need a follow-up sooner
Sometimes a patient wants to talk before the planned date and your follow-up blocks are full. Any slot you open is visible on your public page, so you can't hold one back for callers. Instead, leave a little room in your week, for example the end of a morning, and when a patient calls, create a follow-up slot there and book them into it straight away. A booked slot with one place is full and doesn't show on your public page.
Be clear about what a follow-up is for. If something sounds urgent or medical, the patient should see their doctor; say so in the follow-up description.
Adjust the balance as you go
After a few weeks, look at your bookings list. If first consultations are booked far ahead while follow-up slots stay empty, turn a follow-up block back into consultation slots. If returning patients can't find a date, add a follow-up block. Nothing is fixed: you can move a slot, delete it or open new ones at any time.
Changes you make to existing bookings don't reach patients by email: Book sends a confirmation when a booking is created, not when you move or cancel it. Tell the patient yourself. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.