Book an appointment
Book a patient with a doctor at a set time, add the services and check the visit is saved.
Purpose
Book a patient with a doctor at a set time, add what the visit is for, and check the appointment is saved. The same form is used whether the patient is on the phone or at the desk.
Before you start
the clinic Owner, Doctor and Front Desk roles can book. Finance can't.
each visit is booked with a doctor, so at least one doctor must be on your team.
a doctor's times are checked against their weekly hours. Set those first so the form doesn't
warn on every booking.
Steps
Step 1: Open Book a visit
Doselect New appointment in the top bar. You can also use + Book on Appointments or Calendar,
or Book appointment on a patient's record.
You'll seeBook a visit, with Patient, When, Doctor, Services and Case on the left and
THE BILL on the right.
Step 2: Choose the patient
Dotype in Search by phone or name… and select the patient.
Doif they aren't listed, select + New patient, fill in Full name, Phone, Age and Sex, then
select Add patient.
search by phone first. It's the quickest way to avoid adding the same patient twice.
Step 3: Choose the time
Dounder When, keep Scheduled selected and pick the date and time.
for a patient who is here now, use Walk-in instead (walk-in guide).
Step 4: Choose the doctor
Dounder Doctor, select the doctor.
You'll seea short check of that time, such as NO WAIT or SHORT WAIT. If the doctor isn't working
then, you'll see DOCTOR NOT IN, AWAY, TIME BLOCKED or NO SCHEDULE YET.
Sopick another time, or select Book anyway if you mean to book outside their hours.
if your clinic has one doctor, they're already selected. Book anyway is recorded.
Step 5: Add services
Dounder Services, tick what the visit is for. To charge something not on your rate card, select
Add service and type the amount.
You'll seeeach service added to THE BILL, with Net and Outstanding at booking.
if your clinic has no rate card yet, you'll see No rate card set up yet. Type an amount, or
leave it empty if you aren't charging.
for a follow-up, choose Follow-up on a past visit under Case and pick the visit under
Following up on.
Step 6: Book the visit
Doselect Book visit.
You'll seeAppointment booked., then the visit page with What is promised: When, With and
How long.
Sothe appointment is saved. This is the check that matters. Keel doesn't send the patient a confirmation,
so give them the details yourself.
if you see Appointment saved but reminders did not start, the appointment is still saved.
Don't book it again (what to do).
Result
You'll seethe visit page for the patient, showing the doctor and time you chose under What is promised.
You'll seethe patient on Appointments for that day.
Sothe time is held for this patient with this doctor.
If it doesn't work
- If you see: Book visit stays unavailable with a line under itDo what the line says, for example choose a doctor or add a service (why booking was refused)
- If you see: That doctor already has a visit overlapping this time… with NEXT FREE timesSelect one of the NEXT FREE times, or choose another doctor
- If you see: This patient already has a visit booked at exactly this time…They're already booked. Find that visit before doing anything else.
- If you see: Could not reach the server… or Could not book appointment. Try again.Check whether it saved before you try again (check before retrying)
- Working: The visit page opensDone
Limits
a doctor can't be booked twice at the same time. Book anyway doesn't change that.
a patient can't have two visits at exactly the same time.
you can't book a time that has already passed.
collecting payment while booking is not available yet. Collect payment now doesn't
record a payment.
Checked against the Keel product source and in the live product on 2026-10-10. Opening Book a visit from the top bar and Appointments, the form's sections, the Scheduled, Walk-in and Video choice, the doctor-not-in warning with Book anyway, the services list and the empty bill were observed. Choosing or adding a patient, booking a visit, the booked visit page and the refusal messages were not exercised.