– Changing a Practitioner’s Appointment Time Slot

Several things have to be considered before changing the time slots for a practitioner. It is important to keep appointments that have been booked with a practitioner previously. These need to be displayed in the diary in the correct time slots on the diary. So, appointment slot times cannot simply be changed using the current practitioner details as this can result in a confusing display. If, for example appointments were booked every 15 minutes and you change the diary to 20 minute appointment slots how should these be displayed.

The steps below ensure you can book future appointments in the diary and any previously booked appointments maintain the correct time.

1. Decide on a date in the future you would like to implement the new times. Then create a 2nd practitioner, specifying their surname as the practitioners name followed by the time slot. For example 20 to denote the new 20 minute slot. So, if SMITHS appointments are being changed from 15 minutes to 20 minutes call them ‘smith20.
2. Once the 2nd practitioner is created go to the diary.  Select the new practitioner created (e.g. SMITH20).  From today’s date to the date prior to the day you would like to start using the new times, block-out the diary.  Doing this will prevent any bookings being made accidentally during this time.  It is useful to call the block out something helpful such as ‘Use SMITH diary’.
3. On the current practitioner’s diary, block out all times from the date you would like to start from for the practitioner. So, for example the new time slots might start 3-6 months in the future.  (This will ensure no bookings are made for future appointments during the old time slot).  It is useful to call the block out something that will help people remember such as ‘Use SMITH20 diary’.
4. Continue using the current practitioners diary times for appointments made prior to the new time slot. Then use the New practitioner diary for appointments made after the new time slot is to commence.
5. When the date arrives, and the practitioners new time slots become current, you can transfer patients. So, for example, all patients from the ‘old’ practitioners records to the ‘new’ 20 min practitioner.  To do this, select Practitioners at your clinic from the Look up menu. Select the original practitioner and click the Move Patients button.  Select the new practitioner from the drop down arrow. DO NOT tick Move all future appointments and block-outs.
6. All financial records will remain unchanged from practitioner old to practitioner new.
7. Finally flag the ‘old’ Practitioners record to ‘No longer practising’.  This will ensure the old practitioner does not appear in the diary although all patient records relating to that practitioner will still be stored.