Smart Booking & After-Hours Triage

A 24/7 conversational assistant that books appointments, captures every enquiry the phone misses, and triages urgency, so no new patient slips away because the practice was closed or the line was busy.

Scheduling & New-patient capture

The pain point

If a clinic misses that first call, the patient usually won't leave a voicemail, they move on to the next practice. Enquiries arrive after hours, on weekends, and while reception is already on another call.

Missed call

a lost patient, lost revenue and a disrupted schedule (LocaliQ)

24/7

Patients value booking outside working hours, in control of their own care (EXACT)

How the chatbot solves it

Sits on the website, Google Business profile and SMS. Handles real-time availability, collects name / contact / reason / urgency, and triages emergencies to a call-back queue. New-patient enquiries are captured day or night and pushed into the practice management system.

Books

Offers live slots and confirms into the PMS (e.g. Dental4Web, EXACT, Praktika).

Triages

Flags pain / swelling / trauma as urgent and routes to a same-day or emergency path.

Captures

Logs every after-hours enquiry with contact details for morning follow-up.

Qualifies

Asks new vs existing, health-fund / HICAPS, preferred practitioner and time.

UX interaction diagram

End-to-end flow from entry point through triage to a confirmed booking or captured lead.

flowchart TD A([Patient lands: website / Google / SMS]) --> B{New or existing?} B -->|New| C[Capture name, contact, reason] B -->|Existing| D[Lookup record in PMS] C --> E{Urgency triage} D --> E E -->|Emergency: pain, swelling, trauma| F[Offer same-day / emergency slot + flag for call-back] E -->|Routine| G[Show live availability] G --> H{Slot chosen?} H -->|Yes| I[Confirm + write to PMS] H -->|No suitable time| J[Capture preference + add to waitlist] F --> I I --> K([SMS/email confirmation + reminders enrolled]) J --> L([Lead saved for reception follow-up]) classDef e fill:#f8ebe4,stroke:#b34a39,color:#2e2a26; classDef s fill:#f5e6da,stroke:#c2613d,color:#2e2a26; class F e; class I,K s;

Sample conversation flow

After-hours new-patient enquiry with a soft urgency check.

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