Booking Links can be sent to patients via SMS to allow them to book, check and reschedule their Appointments. These can be sent either individually via the SMS Window, or in bulk via the Bookings Tab in the Appointments Window
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
Sending Individual Links
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
From within the SMS window, you can configure the message content by either using a pre defined message template or by free typing in the Message Body field. To add a Booking Link, click the Add Booking Link button
The configuration modal will then open, allowing you to define the:
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
Allow patients to decline: when this box is ticked, patients will be able to decline to book an appointment via the SMS link
Decline SNOMED Code: when the decline box is ticked, a SNOMED Code can be added to be written to the clinical record
Once applied, the booking link is added to the message body and the SMS can be sent
For further guidance on configuring and sending Individual Booking Links, see our Help Guide here
Sending Bulk Links
To send SMS booking links to multiple patients in one go, navigate to the Bookings Tab in the Appointments Window. The configuration of these messages is managed in the New Message Tab
Patient details can be uploaded in bulk as a CSV File under the Add Patient List. A bank template can be downloaded via the Download Template button and uploaded using Upload CSV
You can create the message content by either using a pre defined message template or by free typing in the Message Body field. You will also need to configure the following fields:
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
Allow patients to decline: when this box is ticked, patients will be able to decline to book an appointment via the SMS link
Decline SNOMED Code: when the decline box is ticked, a SNOMED Code can be added to be written to the clinical record
Once you are happy with your message content and booking link configuration, select Send SMS to send it
Via the Sent Messages tab, you can view any previously sent singular or bulk Appointment booking links. This tab will display the following information:
Date and Time the message(s) were sent
The amount of messages Sent
Slot Type
Appointment Type
Expiry
Message Body
You can also filter by Date, Slot Types and Appointment types in order to locate specific messages sent
For more information on how to send bulk booking links, see our Help Guide here
SMS Templates
Whether you're sending Booking Links individually or in bulk, you can use your pre-defined SMS Message Templates when configuring these messages
These can be created and managed via the Configuration Console by Supervisors
Fields can be added to these Templates so you can address the recipient by name, as well as adding a surgery signature
NHS Conditions can also be added to these, and once selected a NHS information is added into the Template
For more guidance on creating these Templates, see our Help Guide here
Patient Experience
Once the patient receives and clicks on the SMS link, they will be asked to verify their date of birth to continue
Once they have successfully passed the verification, they will be able to select a date and time from the available slots
Once the appointment has been booked, the patient can access the link again to check the appointment details, or cancel and reschedule if required
For more information on the patient experience, see our help guide here
Reporting
The report for this feature is located in the Reports Portal under Feature Reports
Message Summary provides a breakdown of the following figures:
Sent - the total number of Booking SMS sent over the defined period, and includes both individual and bulk links
Delivered - the number of Sent messages that were reported as delivered
Link Accessed - how many of the Sent messages resulted in the recipient clicking the booking link within the messages
Declined - the amount of patients that chose to decline to book an appointment
Validation Success - how many of the Sent messages resulted in the patient successfully validating their date of birth
Appointments Booked - the amount of Sent messages that resulted in the patient booking an appointment
The Message Activity section of this report provides a breakdown of all of the booking links sent within the specified time period, including both singular and bulk messages
To view more information for each message sent, click on the View Detail button to bring up the Individual Message View
Once you have clicked the View Detail button, the selected message is highlighted in green at the top of the section. Below this, the message by message data is displayed in ascending telephone number order
For more information on the figures included in this report, see our Help Guide here
To learn more, take our Streamlining Patient Appointments with Appointment Booking Links Academy Course here