Imaging practices: booking mammography slots online

Let patients book their mammogram online, with separate services for screening and for follow-up exams prescribed by a doctor, and the preparation and documents to bring in each description. Set slot lengths that include any complementary ultrasound your protocol plans, and open slots on the days the mammography unit runs. Patients book at a time that suits them, arrive with their invitation, prescription and previous images, and the unit's day runs without gaps or overruns.

A screening mammogram and a follow-up exam after a finding don't take the same time or need the same documents. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page, and each slot belongs to one service, sits within one day and has its own capacity. Give each slot one place, so one patient books each exam.

Durations are examples: set your own, according to your protocols. The price field is optional; leave it empty if you don't want an amount shown.

Write instructions according to your own protocols, in short, plain sentences that a patient can read on a phone.

Comparing with earlier images helps the reading. Say clearly in the description to bring them, or how to send them before the appointment if the practice accepts that.

The booking form takes first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the patient's calendar file. Since the note appears in the calendar file, ask patients not to write health details there; the prescription and the questionnaire at registration hold what you need. Ask only for practical needs, such as wheelchair access or help getting changed.

Open mammography slots only on the days and hours the unit and a radiographer are available. Slots repeat each week on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so a regular timetable takes a few minutes to set up. Slots of different services can overlap, so if screening and follow-up exams share the unit, give them separate times or check they can't be booked at once.

Early morning and late afternoon slots make it easier for patients who work to fit an appointment in. When a slot is booked, it leaves your page, so the next patient picks another time.

If a follow-up exam is needed, the practice can book it from the calendar; first and last name are required, email and phone optional, and the patient receives a confirmation with a calendar file if you enter their email. Rescheduling works across services, so a screening booking can move to the longer service if an ultrasound is added.

Some patients need more time, for example with limited mobility, a first mammogram or anxiety about the exam. Offer a longer service, say in the description who it's for, and let patients choose it themselves. A calm, unhurried slot can help the exam go smoothly for the patient and the radiographer.

Book has one booking page per business and no staff field. If two radiographers run the unit on different days, give each their own services, so the bookings list shows who performs which exam.

Put the booking link on the practice website and voicemail message, and give it to gynaecologists, midwives and GPs who refer patients. A patient with a screening invitation in hand can book straight away.

Patients can't move or cancel bookings online: they call reception, and you move the exam from your bookings list. If the unit is down for maintenance, cancel or move the affected bookings and tell each patient yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book doesn't send reminders. Bookings sync with Google, iPhone or Mac calendars. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.