Websites & patient experience · Practical guide

Explain how to change to a remote appointment

A patient wants to switch an existing visit to video or telephone and assumes a note is enough. The service may need to confirm whether the alternative format can be offered. An in-person booking and a remote booking can have different practical requirements. Explain how someone asks to change format and when the practice confirms that request.

Read the guide Make your action list
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Make the website useful for the people who use your practice.

What to change

Provide a request route for discussing the format change. Have the service owner approve what the page says about availability and keep individual suitability decisions with the team.

A worked example

Illustrative example

A patient asks to change an in-person consultation to video. The page explains that reception will discuss the request with the service team and issue updated instructions if the arrangement is confirmed.

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Make the service and next step clear on every screen.
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Review keyboard access, contrast and understandable form fields.

Put it into practice

Once agreed, the patient needs the appropriate joining or arrival information. Ask your team what happens to the original instructions, especially automatic reminders. A person should not receive a video link alongside an unchanged message telling them to attend the building.

Check which joining instructions are sent after the change and whether earlier travel reminders stop. The patient should receive practical messages that reflect the newly agreed appointment format.

What to agree before publishing

Review the appointment change and the instructions sent afterwards as one task. A confirmed move to video should lead to the correct joining information, while obsolete travel reminders should not continue to present the original format as current. Ask the team how it confirms the format and handles any related fee or scheduling question. The public explanation can stay concise, but it should identify the request route and the message that tells the patient the new arrangement is agreed.

How to check the result

The visitor understands the difference between asking for another format and having a revised appointment.

A mistake to avoid

Do not imply that every in-person service has a remote equivalent or that the fee automatically remains the same.

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.

Checks to discuss

Record what you know, what is still missing and the answer you need from your team or supplier.

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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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