Health practices: patient booking basics online

Every call to book an appointment interrupts a consultation or lands on voicemail. With Book, patients book on your own booking page at any hour, choose the right type of visit, and arrive at the time you set. This guide covers the basics for independent health practitioners: how to set up services, slot lengths, first visits and what patients should and shouldn't write when they book.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description, all shown on your public page. Each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own capacity. Create one service per type of visit, named the way patients understand it:

Durations are examples: set your own according to the rules that apply to you. If you show a price, an empty price is hidden and a price of zero shows as €0.00.

Set each slot to the time the visit really takes, including writing notes and preparing the room. You create every slot, so leave a gap between them if you need one; the gap never appears on your page. Slots repeat weekly on the weekdays you choose until an end date.

New patients book the first-consultation service; returning patients book follow-ups. Say in each description who it's for. At the end of a visit, book the follow-up yourself from your bookings list: first and last name are enough, and with the patient's email they get a confirmation with a calendar file.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note. The note reaches you in the new booking email and also appears in the patient's calendar file. So:

The service name also appears in the patient's calendar. Prefer neutral names, such as "Consultation", over names that reveal a condition.

Create a home visit service per area, with travel included in the slot, and open each area on set days. Ask for the address, access and parking in the note.

Book has one booking page per business and no staff field. In a shared practice, create services per practitioner, such as "Consultation with Dr Martin"; slots of different services can overlap, so each practitioner runs their own schedule.

Patients can't move or cancel online: they contact you. Say in each description how to reach you and how much notice you need. Book doesn't email patients about changes or send reminders, so the calendar file is what keeps the appointment in their phone.

Book doesn't store medical records, take payments, send reminders or create video links: if you see patients by video, send the link by email. Your bookings sync with Google, iPhone or Mac calendars. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.