Book an appointment online

How a patient books a doctor's free slot on your booking page, with or without signing in, and where the booking arrives at the hospital.

The booking page lets the patient choose a department, a doctor, a day and a time from your doctors' published schedules. The booking arrives on Appointments with the source Online, like a desk booking.

The booking page showing a doctor's free times for the chosen day

Before you begin

• The patient portal is on, and its Book an appointment switch is On.
• The Online booking queue rule is On, and Walk-ins and appointments is not Walk-ins only. See Patient Queue.
• Each doctor has an active, published schedule. Only free slots of those schedules can be booked. See Doctors.

Where to find it

The page is your portal address followed by /portal/book. Under the Book an appointment switch, click Open or Copy link. Signed-in patients also see Book an appointment on their portal home.

Set up the page

1. Under Book an appointment, type a Note shown on the booking page, for example Please bring your previous reports. The fee is paid at the hospital.
2. Tick Patients may cancel their own upcoming appointment (before they arrive) if you allow online cancelling.

Both save as soon as you change them.

What the patient does

1. The patient opens the page. With more than one department, they pick one under Which department do you need?
2. They choose a doctor. The fee shows under each doctor when your price list gives one.
3. Under Choose a day and time, they pick a day and a free time. Next available marks the first day with free time.
4. A patient who is not signed in types their Full name, Mobile number and, if they have one, their MR number, then taps Send me a code.
5. They type the six-digit code and tap Confirm appointment. A signed-in patient only checks the details and taps Confirm appointment.

The page then shows Your appointment is booked with a ticket: the doctor, the day and time, and the Appointment number. The patient can Add to calendar, Share or Print it.

Who the booking is for

• A signed-in patient books for the patient on screen. With family members, that may be a relative they switched to.
• A visitor who gives an MR number whose file has the same phone is booked on that file.
• Otherwise EloERP finds the patient by name and phone, or registers a new patient. It never joins two people on a phone alone.

Cancel online

With cancelling allowed, the patient sees Cancel appointment on an upcoming booking in the portal. They confirm with Yes, cancel it. The appointment moves to Cancelled on Appointments.

A patient can cancel only a booked appointment that is still ahead and has no token yet. After arrival, they must call the hospital.

Common questions

It says "No doctor is open for online booking right now". No doctor has a published schedule with free slots. Check the doctors' schedules.

A patient got "That time has just been taken". Another patient booked the slot a moment earlier. They choose another time.

A patient cannot book twice with the same doctor on one day. That is on purpose. They get "You already have an appointment with this doctor on that day."

Does the patient get a confirmation message? Yes, if you have a rule for Appointment booked. It is the same message a desk booking sends.

How far ahead can patients book? The page shows the next two weeks of a doctor's days. Bookings up to 60 days ahead are accepted.

Do daily limits still apply? Yes. Online bookings count against the same limits as other bookings.