When a patient comes back to a doctor they saw recently, Treatlly shows them their follow-up rather than a fresh appointment — on your website, in your clinic app and at your front desk. You control this with two settings you already have in Slot Rules. This page covers what your patients and your staff see, and how to set it up.
What your patients see
On your website's booking page, the patient enters their mobile number first, then says who the visit is for — themselves or a family member — and only then sees times. What they are offered depends on that person's visits with that doctor:
| The patient… | What they see |
|---|---|
| Has not seen this doctor before | Regular (new-appointment) times. |
| Has a follow-up due, and you have follow-up times open | Only follow-up times, up to the last date the follow-up can be used, with the message "You have a follow-up due with [doctor] (valid until [date]). Please book the follow-up instead of a new appointment." Their earlier visit is filled in for them. |
| Has a follow-up due, but you have no follow-up times open | Regular times, with the note "Follow-up dates aren't open right now, so you can book a regular appointment." |
| Already has an appointment with this doctor, or a missed one | No times. A message explains why, with View appointment and Book for a family member instead. |
Once the follow-up period has ended, the patient is simply offered regular times again.
Your patients' Dashboard on your website leads with the same thing: a follow-up that is due, with a button straight to that doctor's follow-up times; otherwise their next visit; otherwise Book a new appointment. The latest version of your clinic app, where you have one, does the same on its Home screen and opens the follow-up times when the patient picks that doctor. On older versions of the app, patients book a follow-up from Book follow-up on the completed visit.
How you control it
Both settings are on the slot rule form under Schedule → Slot Rules.
- Open a Follow-up sitting. Create a slot rule with Appointment Type set to Follow-up, enable it, and link it to the doctor from the doctor's Edit page (Linked Slot Rules), exactly as for any other sitting. Follow-up times only exist where you have a Follow-up sitting. With none, returning patients book regular appointments as usual.
- Set Prescription Validity (days) on the regular (New) sitting. This is how many days after a visit its follow-up stays due. While it runs and you have follow-up times open for that doctor, the patient is steered to the follow-up. Leave it blank and patients are offered a choice instead — New appointment or Follow-up visit — and never steered.
If your follow-up times are full, switched off or fall on a holiday, patients who are due a follow-up are not held up — they book a regular appointment.
Before you enable a Follow-up sitting, check the Prescription Validity on that doctor's regular sittings. It decides how long returning patients will be shown the follow-up, so a long validity means a long stretch in which they cannot book that doctor as a new patient.
What the front desk sees
When the person at the counter has a follow-up due with the doctor and you have follow-up times open, booking them as a new patient with that doctor is refused. The message starts "Follow-up due:" and names the patient, the doctor, the earlier visit's reference, the date the follow-up is valid until and the next follow-up date, and ends "Book it as a follow-up."
- Pick a follow-up slot for the same doctor. The mobile number and the earlier visit are already filled in.
- Collect payment as usual and press Create appointment.
If the next follow-up date is not today, the message says so: the counter can only book today, so the patient can book that follow-up online for that date, or come back on the day.
There is no way to book that person as a new patient with that doctor instead while the follow-up is due — the same applies on your website and in your app. A different doctor is always fine. If you have no follow-up times open, the new booking goes through as before.
Family members are separate patients
Everyone on one mobile number — the account holder and each family member — is treated as their own patient. A parent's follow-up never stops their child being booked as a new patient with the same doctor, and the other way round.
When you book a follow-up at the desk, each earlier visit in the list names whose visit it is — for example the child or the account holder. On a shared family number, tick the visit of the person actually in front of you.
Common questions
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| A patient says they can only see follow-up times | Their follow-up with that doctor is due and you have follow-up times open, so the follow-up is what they can book until the follow-up period ends. |
| Patients who are due a follow-up are booking regular appointments | That doctor has no follow-up times open — no Follow-up sitting, one that is not enabled or not linked to the doctor, or one that is full. Open one if you want them back as follow-ups. |
| You want follow-ups offered, not required | Leave Prescription Validity blank on the regular sitting. Patients then choose between a follow-up and a new appointment. |
| The desk wants to book a due follow-up as a new appointment | It cannot. Book the follow-up — the form is already set up for it. |
| A patient cannot book at all with a doctor | They already have an appointment, or a missed one, with that doctor. The visit has to happen, or the missed one be rescheduled or cancelled, first. |
Related articles
- Managing slot rules and schedules
- Understanding slot rules
- Booking an appointment (what your patients read)
- The receptionist dashboard