How to Fill Last-Minute Dental Cancellations

The list is not the problem. Working it is.

Nearly every practice has a cancellation or short-notice list. Gaps still go unfilled, because a list of names is not enough to act on at 08:15 with the phone ringing and patients at the desk.

Filling a last-minute gap is a race: the sooner the right person hears about it, the more likely they can come. Everything that slows the first offer down costs the slot.

Record the answers before the cancellation

A short-notice list works when it already answers the questions reception would otherwise ask on the phone. Ask patients when they join it, and write the answers down.

• Do you want to be offered a short-notice appointment at all? Yes or no.
• What is the least notice you can take: an hour, a morning, a day?
• Which days and times can you usually make?
• Which treatment are you waiting for, and with which clinician?

A process for the next cancellation

When a gap opens, work through it in the same order every time.

1. Check the gap: its length, the clinician and what can safely be done in it.
2. Shortlist the patients whose treatment fits the gap and who said yes to that much notice.
3. Decide who to offer it to. One at a time is fairest; a small group is fastest.
4. Send the offer on each patient's own channel, with a clear way to say yes or no.
5. Book the first patient who accepts, and close every other offer straight away.
6. Record who said no, so they are not asked again this week.

Fairness and the awkward double yes

The worst outcome of sending a gap to several patients is two people accepting and one being turned away after rearranging their day. Whatever you use, make sure only one acceptance can take the time, and that everybody else is told the gap has gone.

A patient who is asked again and again and never gets a slot has little reason to keep replying. Keep a record of who has been offered what, and spread the offers.

Consent and the messages you send

An offer of an appointment to a patient waiting for treatment is usually a service message rather than marketing, but the rules on electronic marketing are strict, so check how your practice classifies these messages with whoever handles data protection. Patients who have asked not to be contacted on a channel should not receive offers on it.

One at a time, or a small group?

There are two fair ways to offer a gap, and the right one depends on how much time is left.

• One at a time: offer the gap to the best-matched patient, wait a short, stated time for an answer, then move to the next. Fairest, and nobody is disappointed, but slow when the gap is hours away.
• A small group: offer it to two or three well-matched patients at once and give it to the first to accept. Faster, and fine as long as everyone else is told promptly that it has gone.

Common reasons gaps stay empty

• The gap is offered too late, after the morning rush, when the best-matched patients can no longer make it.
• The list holds patients who never wanted short notice, so offers are ignored.
• The offer is a phone call during working hours, when many patients cannot answer.
• Reception has no clear authority to offer the gap without checking with someone first.

Where Clinqly fits

When an appointment Clinqly booked is cancelled, Clinqly opens the time for recovery by itself and shortlists the waiting patients it suits, by treatment, clinician and what each said about short notice. Reception decides who is offered it, and one click sends the offers. The first patient to accept is booked and every other offer is closed at once.

Cancellations made in a practice-management system do not reach Clinqly, because there is no live connection to them today, and Clinqly does not claim to fill every gap.