What to change
Provide a clear route to check the existing booking. Confirm what information the team needs and keep financial or sensitive details out of ordinary messages.
A worked example
Illustrative example
A visitor remembers choosing an appointment but has no message. The help text directs them to reception with the appointment type and approximate time, using the practice's approved verification process.
Put it into practice
Ask the supplier to check the wording used when sending fails. The page should avoid creating duplicate appointments while giving the patient a clear route out of uncertainty.
Ask the team which details locate the booking through its normal checks. The public help can name useful references without inviting people to send unnecessary personal information through an unsuitable route.
What to agree before publishing
Give patients a way to check the original booking through the practice's approved process, using the details that help locate it. Explain where the confirmation normally appears and how the absence of that message is handled. Ask the supplier to demonstrate a case where sending the confirmation fails after a booking is recorded. The public help must not encourage a second booking simply because one email is missing. Its purpose is to establish the outcome before the person repeats a consequential action.
How to check the result
The reader can resolve uncertainty without being pushed into reserving another slot.
A mistake to avoid
Do not guarantee that a missing email means the booking failed, because message delivery and appointment creation may be separate events.
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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