Websites & patient experience · Practical guide

Explain how telephone appointments work

A telephone appointment is booked but patients do not know whether to call the practice or wait for a call. They may also expect a recognisable caller number that the service does not use. For a telephone appointment, the practical question is often simply who calls whom. State the agreed arrangement, the number details patients should check and the contact route if circumstances change.

Read the guide Make your action list
Healthcare website and appointment calendar displayed on devices at an empty clinic reception.
Make the website useful for the people who use your practice.

What to change

Explain who initiates the call and use contact arrangements verified by the practice. Avoid publishing universal caller-identification claims that the team cannot support.

A worked example

Illustrative example

A practice explains that its team calls the patient using the number confirmed during booking. It tells patients how to check that number beforehand and where to contact the practice if the call is missed.

Healthcare website design showing connected desktop and mobile service and enquiry layouts.
Make the service and next step clear on every screen.
Healthcare website accessibility illustrated by a focus outline, keyboard key, contrast samples and form.
Review keyboard access, contrast and understandable form fields.

Put it into practice

Ask the team whether the outgoing call appears under a recognisable number, and describe that accurately where useful. Do not make people infer the process from an appointment time alone or wait beside a phone when they were expected to call.

Make the instruction clear for someone who has changed their number since booking. Give the practice's route for correcting contact details so the call arrangement remains useful on the day.

What to agree before publishing

Settle who initiates the call and which number the practice will use before writing the appointment description. If the outgoing number is unfamiliar or unavailable for return calls, explain the confirmed arrangement where useful. Give the route for updating contact details before the appointment. Then compare the reminder with the service page. A time in the diary does not tell someone whether to call reception or wait, so those instructions need to be explicit rather than left to a familiar template.

How to check the result

The patient knows their role in connecting to the appointment and can prepare the relevant contact details.

A mistake to avoid

Do not tell patients to answer every unknown call as though that alone verifies the caller's identity.

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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