This is the day-to-day job of keeping your schedule right: creating rules, adjusting quotas, marking closures, and handling the awkward cases. For the underlying concept, read Understanding slot rules first.
Creating a rule
- Open Slot Rules and start a new rule.
- Pick the doctor and the location.
- Choose the consultation mode — walk-in or video consultation.
- Select the days that doctor consults.
- Add the sessions within those days, e.g. 10:00–13:00 and 17:00–20:00.
- Set the consultation length, which decides how many fit per session.
- Set the online and counter quotas.
- Save. Slots generate forward from the rule.
If you pick video consultation, the counter quota is fixed at zero and disabled — video slots are online-booking only, and that cannot be overridden.
Getting quotas right
The quota split is the setting you will revisit most, and the one most worth thinking about.
| If you… | You get… |
|---|---|
| Give everything to online | A full morning online and nothing for the patient at the counter. |
| Give everything to the counter | A booking page that looks permanently full. |
| Start conservative and raise it | The usual approach — adjust once you see real demand. |
Changing a quota is one field and takes effect on future slots. It is not a decision you are locked into.
Editing a rule
Editing regenerates future slots. Patients already booked keep their appointments — the system does not rewrite bookings underneath people.
Two habits worth keeping:
- Make structural changes — different days, very different timings — with a few days of clear air, not the evening before a busy clinic.
- After a significant edit, look at the booking page as a patient would and confirm the times are what you intended.
Marking holidays
Use Holidays for closures — never delete a rule.
Marking a holiday removes the affected slots and flags any patients already booked for reschedule instead of silently cancelling them. Somebody still has to agree new times with those patients; the system surfaces the work rather than deciding for you.
Add known closures in advance. A holiday marked after patients have booked creates rescheduling work that a week's notice would have avoided.
Doctor unavailable at short notice
Mark it as a closure for that doctor's affected day. The patients on it are flagged, and your front desk can work down the list. Do not leave the slots live hoping a locum appears — patients will keep booking into them.
Adding a doctor to an existing clinic
Adding the doctor does not create availability. You must also create at least one slot rule for them, or they will never appear as bookable.
This is the most common "the new doctor isn't showing" cause.
Adding a second location
Slot rules are per location. A doctor who consults at both places needs a rule for each, and their sessions should not overlap — nothing stops you creating two rules that would put the same doctor in two places at once.
Routine checks
| When | Check |
|---|---|
| Weekly | Next fortnight's slots look right on the booking page. |
| Monthly | Quotas still match real demand — has online grown? |
| Before festivals | Closures marked in advance. |
| New doctor | Slot rule created, not just the doctor record. |
| Timing changes | Rule edited, and the booking page confirmed. |