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Appointment Grid

The appointment grid provides an overview of your organisation's appointments on a day-to-day basis. This comprehensive guide covers all aspects of using the appointment grid effectively, including calendar navigation, resource selection, and appointment management.

When viewing appointments for a specific location, and your organisation has more than one location, a button will appear to the left of the practice's name above the appointments. Clicking this button will allow for quickly switching between locations.

Table of Contents

Booking Appointments

The appointment grid allows you to quickly book appointments for patients directly from the calendar view.

Standard Appointment Booking

To book an appointment from the grid:

  1. Navigate to the desired date using the calendar
  2. Click on an available timeslot in the appropriate column/resource
  3. Search for and select the patient
  4. Configure appointment details (duration, type, notes)
  5. Save the appointment

Blocked Online Booking Indicator

When a patient's online booking has been blocked, their name will display a red icon next to their name when trying to book an appointment.

This alerts your reception team that this patient has been blocked from online booking and can only be booked by staff members.

Appointment Confirmation

Once booked, appointments appear on the grid and can trigger various communications:

  • Email confirmations to patients
  • SMS reminders (if configured)
  • Patient portal notifications

The appointment will also appear in the patient's portal timeline.

For more detailed information about booking appointments, see the appointment management docs.

Managing Appointments

Cancelling Appointments

To cancel an existing appointment:

  1. Click on the appointment in the grid
  2. Click the Cancel Appointment button
  3. Choose whether to send the patient a cancellation email by toggling the checkbox
  4. Confirm the cancellation

The patient will receive a cancellation notification if you choose to send one, and the timeslot will become available for rebooking.

Resending Reminders

If you need to send an additional reminder to a patient about their upcoming appointment:

  1. Click on the appointment in the grid
  2. Click the Resend Reminder button
  3. The patient will immediately receive an email reminder about their appointment

This is useful when patients haven't responded to their initial reminder or need additional notification.

Using the Calendar

Change the appointment grid date using the calendar controls in the upper section of the left sidebar:

  • Collapse/Expand Sidebar: Use the button in the top right of the sidebar to hide or show the calendar panel
  • Date Selection: Click on any date to navigate to that day - the selected date will be highlighted in blue
  • Month/Year Navigation: Use the dropdown menus at the top of the calendar to jump to different months and years
  • Multi-Calendar View: Click month buttons (e.g., "September 2025") to load additional calendars below the current one, allowing you to view multiple months simultaneously for extended planning
  • Closed Days: Closed days will be greyed out and cannot be selected

Quick Navigation

  • Today Button: Click the "Today" button to quickly return to the current date
  • Date Display: Click the main date display to open a date picker for quick jumps to specific dates

Learn more about managing your company closed days in appointment settings

Selecting Resources

The appointment grid sidebar includes a resource selection panel that allows for choosing which locations and appointment resources to display on the grid.

Checkboxes for locations and resources can be found below the date picker in the sidebar, with the following options:

  • Show all resources checkbox: When checked, displays all available resources including those without schedules for the selected date. When unchecked, only resources that have appointments or availability for the current date are shown on the grid
  • Location checkboxes: Resources are organized by location, with expandable sections for each location
  • Individual resource checkboxes: Each resource can be selected or deselected independently
  • Update resources button: Apply your resource selections to refresh the main appointment grid

The main appointment grid will update to show only the resources for your selections.

Blocking Timeslots

Timeslots can be blocked from the appointment grid on a per-location basis to prevent appointments from being booked at those times.

Timeslots can be blocked in the following ways:

  • For a single timeslot
  • For a range of dates and a time range

Blocking a Single Timeslot

To block a single timeslot:

  1. Navigate to the appointment grid
  2. Locate the timeslot in the column you would like to block
  3. Click on the - (minus sign) in the timeslot

The timeslot will immediately become unavailable for booking.

Blocking Timeslots for a Date Range

Timeslots can also be blocked over a range of dates for a given location using the comprehensive blocking form:

  1. Navigate to the appointment grid

  2. Click on the Block timeslots button in the top right of the page

  3. In the "Block timeslots" modal that opens, configure the following settings:

    Location: Select the practice location from the dropdown. If you have more than one location, the Resource input will be updated to reflect the available resources

    Resource: Choose to block timeslots for:

    • All resources
    • A specific resource

    Title: Add a name the blocked timeslots

    Date Range: Set the "From" and "To" dates using the date pickers

    Time Range: Specify the start and end times to block

    Days to block: Select which days of the week to block times for

  4. Click Block timeslots to apply the restrictions

When timeslots are blocked, an email will be sent to the user who is blocking the timeslots with a summary of which timeslots were blocked.

Each timeslot will have one of the following outcomes:

  • The timeslot was successfully blocked
  • The timeslot has already been blocked
  • The timeslot couldn't be blocked because it contains a patient appointment

Managing Blocked Timeslots

To unblock timeslots:

  1. Click on the blocked timeslot
  2. Click Delete