Playbook, dental clinic
A dental visitor wants an appointment. What should happen?
Most dental booking requests are not really about a time. They are about whether the practice is taking anybody on, which appointment the person needs, and whether the thing that prompted them to type can wait. Only the last of those is dangerous.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for appointment booking holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- Dental booking splits before it starts, because a new patient needs a longer examination slot and often a different list from an existing patient wanting a routine check.
- A large share of people asking to book are really asking whether you are accepting anybody at all, which is a fixed fact the assistant can answer outright and which ends the conversation happily.
- Examination, hygienist and treatment appointments have different lengths and are often arranged by different routes, so the word appointment is ambiguous until the assistant establishes which one is meant.
- A booking request with a symptom in it stops being a booking request, because the slot it needs is a triage decision rather than a gap in a diary.
How it arrives
- can i book a check up
- are you taking on new patients
- how do i book with the hygienist
- can i get an appointment this week
- do i have to see the dentist before the hygienist
- can you book my two children in together
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Which patient lists are open | Whether you are accepting new private patients, new plan patients or anybody on a funded scheme, and whether there is a waiting list. This is the question underneath most booking requests and it is answerable without seeing a diary. |
|---|---|
| Appointment types and how long each runs | New patient examination, routine examination, hygienist, emergency slot, treatment appointment. Use the names your reception uses, so the assistant can ask which one somebody means in your language rather than its own. |
| How each appointment is arranged | Which ones go through the online form, which need a phone call, and which can only be booked once an examination has produced a treatment plan. |
| Family and consecutive booking rules | Whether children can be seen alongside a parent, and how back to back appointments are arranged. Asked constantly at any practice with families on the list, and almost never written down. |
The reply
We are open to new patients at the moment, and the first appointment to book is a new patient examination [1]. I cannot see the diary from here, so the quickest route is the booking form on this page or a call to reception, who will find you a slot [2]. If you would rather the team rang you, leave me your name and an email and I will pass it straight on.
It answers the real question, which is whether anybody can join at all, before it gets anywhere near mechanics. It says plainly that the diary is out of reach rather than implying something has been held. And it ends with two routes instead of an apology, so the visitor always has a next step.
Where it stops
The trigger. The booking request carries a symptom in it, for example somebody asking for the first available slot because a tooth has started throbbing or a filling has come out.
That needs the practice rather than a booking form. Please ring the number at the top of this page now, or use the out of hours details there if we are closed.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say a slot is free, held or reserved, because the assistant cannot see the diary and cannot write into it.
- Never tell somebody a dental problem can wait until the next routine appointment.
- Never confirm that a named person already has an appointment booked.
- Never promise a particular dentist, since who is working which session is a rota question.
Questions
- Can it actually take the booking?
- No. It cannot see your diary or write into it. What it can do is answer the questions that stop people booking, then take a name, an email and a message so reception can call back.
- How does it know whether we are taking new patients?
- From whatever page says so. That makes it worth keeping one page as the single place that states the position, because the assistant will repeat what it finds and stale wording here costs you appointments.
- What if somebody asks for the first available appointment?
- It should say it cannot see availability and point at the booking route. The temptation is to guess at a typical wait, and that guess becomes a complaint when the real wait turns out to be longer.
Keep reading
- Everything for a dental clinicThe questions a dental practice actually gets, the ones that must reach a clinician, and the documents worth indexing first.
- Handling appointment booking in generalIt cannot write into a calendar. The job is removing every reason not to book, then handing over with the details already gathered.
- Explaining a dental deposit or a charge for a missed appointmentWhat the assistant should say about dental deposits, short notice cancellations, and a charge that has already landed.
- What the assistant can say when somebody asks what a crown costsDental prices come in bands and the final figure follows an examination. Quoting one without committing the practice.
- Answering what actually happens at a first dental appointmentFirst appointment questions at a dental practice are usually anxiety in disguise. What to answer, and how to word it.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.