Overview
With Waiting Lists enabled, you can easily
track and report on patients that are waiting for an appointment,
fill cancelled appointments with priority patients,
manage your lab work,
allow you to track who has an outstanding requirement for an appointment or examination
run your waiting lists more efficiently.
Set up a new Waiting List
To set up Waiting Lists you need a Permission Level 4 (Administrator) account.
Go to Settings > Diary > Waiting Lists
Select New Waiting List
Complete the fields you require in the new list
Give your Waiting List a unique name
Select the length of time it is acceptable for the patient to be waiting for an appointment in Target Appointment Days
Set the default reason for this appointment for this waiting list. Select from the drop-down menus.
Add Notes for appointments from this waiting list.
Click Save
You should now see your new waiting list appear in the list of available waiting lists.
You can Edit or Delete the list by using the icons on the right-hand side.
Add a Patient onto a Waiting List
Go to a Patient's Appointments tab.
Click On the Add Waiting List button
From the screen, select the waiting list, the target number of days waiting on the list before treatment, the status and the location, if appropriate.
Use the drop-down menus to change the Reason or Default Duration. Add any additional notes required.
Click Save
The patient will show a Waiting List Icon next to their name.
The patient will now appear on the Waiting List Report.
Start and Stop a Pause Count
Please speak to Dentally support if you would like this feature switched on for your practice.
Dentally counts the number of days a patient has been waiting from the day they are added to a waiting list. If the patient is unable to attend the practice for a period of time you may want to start a 'Pause'. When paused, Dentally will begin a second count from the day of the pause until the pause is ended. This allows you to:
Know not to book an appointment for a patient who is paused and cannot attend.
Deduct the paused time from the total waiting time to get a net waiting time for the patient.
To start a pause:
Open the waiting list entry from the 'Appointments' tab.
Click the '⏸️ Pause' button (this is not available if the entry has a 'Completed', 'Declined' or 'Rejected' status).
Select the option to 'Pause Indefinitely' or add an end date
Click 'Save'.
You can pause an entry multiple times. The 'Total time spent paused' will display the accumulative amount of paused time across all pauses. The 'Current time paused' will show the number of days the the existing pause has been active for.
The figures are also included in the record on the 'Appointments' tab and in the 'Waiting List Report'.
Waiting Lists Report
Use the Waiting Lists Report to find patients to identify patients who have been waiting for an appointment, and to fill in gaps in your appointment book.
From the Appointment Reports section, select Waiting Lists
Select the Filters from the left-hand side
For example, if you want those on the Emergency waiting list, select it.
You can see those who are overdue an appointment, the status (Waiting, Booked, Rejected), When they were added to the list and the number of days a patient has been waiting.
Use the Waiting List to fill available calendar slots
If an appointment slot suddenly becomes available, you can use the Waiting Lists to fill that slot with patients who are waiting for treatment.
To book an appointment from the Waiting List Report, click on the Open in new window icon to open the waiting list dialogue box and book an appointment immediately. (This is the way we recommend you use the Waiting List.)
A new window scrolls across the screen
Scroll down to the Appointment Section.
Select Practitioner if required
Select Create Appointment
The Appointment is now copied to the clipboard
Return to the Calendar
There will be a new addition to the clipboard
Select the appointment from the clipboard and drop it into the gap on your calendar appointment book
The appointment will be booked, will show in the patient's appointment tab, and will show in the Waiting list that it has been booked.