Coming Soon: This feature is currently in pilot. To register your interest for this feature, please complete this form
Please note: This feature is currently available for EMIS customers only
To send a Patient a link to book an appointment via SMS, you will need to navigate to the SMS window. This can be accessed either through the Active Patient Window
Or the Appointments Window
Once either of these are clicked, the SMS landing window will open and you will be able to configure your message. The Add Booking Link button will be inactive until you have clicked into the Message Body area
You can choose to either use an existing Message Template, or free type in the Message Body to enter custom text
Clicking the Save Message to Record box allows you to choose whether the SMS will be written to the clinical record. This will either be automatically ticked or unticked, depending on your File SMS by Default settings
When the box is ticked, you can choose to assign a SNOMED Code to the message by clicking in the dropdown and typing the code you wish to select
Clicking Reset will clear any content in the Message Body
For more information regarding SMS Messages, including Message templates, see our Help Guide here
Clicking the Add Booking Link button opens a new modal, allowing you to configure your booking link
From here, you will need to specify:
Appointment Slot Type: these are populated from your active slot types in EMIS
Appointment Type: either Face-to-face or Telephone
Booking Link Expiry: how long the booking link is active for. This defaults to 48 hours, but you can choose from the below options
Allow patients to decline: whether a patient can decline to book an appointment once the SMS has been received
Decline SNOMED Code: the SNOMED Code written to the clinical record if a patient declines the invitation (this is only applicable if the decline box has been ticked)
Please note: Surgery Connect does not check whether there are available appointment slots within the selected slot type. You will need to check that EMIS has the available slots before sending the booking link
If there are no appointment available when the link is accessed by a patient, they will be informed of this when trying to book
Once you are happy with the booking link details, click Apply to close the modal and add the link into the message body
Once the link has been added, the Add Booking Link will become inactive to prevent multiple links being sent out
Once you're happy with the message content and link configuration, click Send SMS to send this message
For information on sending booking links in bulk, as well as patient experience and reporting, view our collection of Help Centre Guides here
If you do not have Self Appointment Bookings enabled on your service, the Add Booking Link button displays as purple
Clicking on this link shows the below Advanced Feature modal
Self Appointment Booking is a paid for feature. For more information, click here
For more information on Self Appointment Booking, explore our collection of Help Centre guides or take our Academy Course