Custom insoles: planning the appointments step by step

Custom insoles usually involve three appointments: an assessment with casting or scanning, a fitting once the insoles are made, and a check a few weeks later. Give each step its own service with the right length, let patients book the assessment online, and book the fitting and the check yourself when you know the production time. Tell patients in advance what to bring, especially the shoes they wear most.

These lengths are examples: adapt them to your method and equipment. On Book, create each step as its own service, with a description saying what happens, and open slots at the length each one takes. A patient who books the assessment sees a clear, bookable first step.

Put this list in the assessment's service description. The booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note, where the patient can say what brings them: pain when running, a problem with a specific shoe, a sports goal. You receive an email for each new booking, with the note, so you can plan the right tests.

The fitting depends on production time, whether you make the insoles yourself or order them from a lab. At the end of the assessment, check when they'll be ready and book the fitting yourself from your calendar, with a small margin in case of delay. The patient leaves with the date; they receive a confirmation email when you enter their email address.

If the insoles are late, reschedule the fitting from your bookings list and tell the patient yourself, since Book doesn't email them when a booking changes.

A check after the patient has worn the insoles for a while lets you adjust what needs adjusting and answer questions. Book it at the fitting, so it isn't forgotten, and keep it short. Ask the patient to bring the insoles and the shoes they've been wearing them in. If the patient is comfortable, the next contact may be a renewal much later; if not, an adjustment appointment follows.

Assessments take longer than routine care and need your equipment and space. Group them on set half-days rather than scattering them between shorter appointments, and keep short slots for fittings and checks around them. A slot created once can be repeated on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so a weekly pattern of assessment half-days is quick to set up.

If you see sports patients, evening or Saturday assessment slots help those who work during the day.

Children come with a parent, and school hours limit the times they can come. Open some assessment slots after school and on Wednesday or Saturday mornings, and ask in the note for the child's name and age, since the parent is the one booking. Growth means more frequent checks and renewals, so booking the next check at each visit helps parents keep track.

Patients coming for insoles for the first time don't always know it takes several visits. Say it in the assessment's description: an assessment now, a fitting in a few weeks, a short check after that. When the steps are clear before the first visit, the fitting and the check are expected rather than a surprise, and patients plan around them.

Insoles wear out, feet change, children grow. When a patient comes back for a renewal, a shorter assessment may be enough if nothing has changed. Offer a separate "Renewal" service with its own length, so returning patients don't book a full first assessment. Say in its description who it's for.

Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited bookings and services, no commission and no contract. It doesn't take payments or store patient records; it handles appointments.