What to change
Describe how new bookings and existing reservations should be handled during the change. Verify the real arrangements with the booking team rather than assuming accounts or appointments transfer automatically.
A worked example
Illustrative example
A practice directs new bookings to its current provider while telling patients with earlier confirmations to contact reception about changes. It avoids claiming the old account now controls the new system.
Put it into practice
Existing patients may also wonder whether an earlier booking still stands. Answer that question using the confirmed arrangement, and put any separate help route next to the announcement.
Explain where help with existing bookings belongs during the change. Patients should not need to determine which software holds their appointment before knowing which team can answer a question.
What to agree before publishing
List the questions an existing patient is likely to ask about the switch: whether their booking remains valid, which account to use and whom to contact for help. Get those answers from the booking team before writing the announcement. A new platform's visual identity can be introduced in a sentence beside its link. More detailed help belongs where people encounter the new requirement, so the announcement does not become a long technical explanation that obscures the appointment information.
How to check the result
A patient can choose the right route based on their task without making a duplicate reservation.
A mistake to avoid
Do not imply that creating a new account imports appointments or records unless that transfer has been verified.
Turn reading into a next step
Your action checklist
Work through these checks with your team or supplier. Tick the ones you have resolved and leave unknowns open.
Record what you know, what is still missing and the answer you need from your team or supplier.
Use project decisions only, without personal, patient or confidential details. Entries stay in this page and are not submitted to Kay & Co. Copy or download before leaving; this page does not save your notes.
Further reading
These sources provide background for the topic. The practice examples and checklist are illustrative planning suggestions from Kay & Co.
Related guides
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