Booking an appointment is only half of scheduling. This guide shows how to set a doctor's weekly hours, move a booking without clashes, fill a freed slot from the waitlist, handle online requests and cancel a repeat series.
Open Front Desk › Scheduling › Appointments and press Working hours in the header. Choose the doctor in Doctor. For each weekday switch Working on or off and fill Start, End, Break start, Break end and the optional Slot length. For Dental Doctor, Monday to Friday runs 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday has a break from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday are off. Press Save: Availability saved.
On the appointment row press Edit (for example APT-000064 for Muhammad Hamza Qureshi). The patient stays the same; the doctor is Dental Doctor and the department is locked to the doctor's own, Aesthetics. Change Date & time and watch the Scheduling check under it. A free in-hours time reads No conflicts — this slot is free and within working hours. A clash shows Doctor double-booked with the other appointment (for example APT-000063) and the message that double-booking is blocked for this clinic. If the patient already has a visit then, Patient already has an appointment appears too. Click a suggestion chip, such as Earlier free slot 9:45 or Next free slot 10:15, to fill the time. Press Save changes.
Open the Calendar tab next to Appointments and Today's queue. Switch between Month, Week and Day, and move with Previous, Today and Next. Click an empty slot to start a new booking at that time. Click an existing booking to open it for editing.
Open Front Desk › Scheduling › Appointment waitlist. The list shows Patient with MR number, Doctor, Department, Waiting since, Note and Actions; the oldest entry is offered first. Press Add to waitlist. In Add waitlist entry choose the Patient (Adil Malik, MR-000029), the Doctor (Dental Doctor) and a Note such as "Can come at short notice", then press Add to waitlist.
To cancel, press Cancel on the row. The dialog says Cancel appointment? with the number and patient name. Choose a Cancellation reason (Patient asked to cancel, Doctor unavailable, Duplicate booking, Rebooked for another time, or Other), add optional Details, and press Cancel appointment: Appointment cancelled. For a patient who did not come, press No show on the row: Marked as no-show. A Waitlist candidate dialog opens: the freed slot (Oct 12, 2026, 10:00 AM) can go to Adil Malik, who has waited since Oct 11, 8:22 AM. Press Book this slot. The new appointment form opens already filled with the patient, doctor, department and the exact time. Choose the Reason (General checkup) and press Book appointment. Not now leaves the slot open.
Patients book on the hospital's public page and see Request received with a reference, here APT-000067, and a link to add documents. On your Appointments list that request carries a Web · Pending confirmation badge. Press the Confirm icon directly on the row: Booking confirmed. To refuse one, such as APT-000022, open More actions › Decline, read Decline booking request?, add an optional reason and press Decline request: Booking request declined.
A repeat series, such as Aleem's weekly visits APT-000071, 072 and 073, shows Series 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3 next to the name. On the first visit open the row menu and choose Cancel remaining visits. It says it cancels later scheduled visits in this series, and that this visit is cancelled separately. The first visit stays Scheduled and the two later ones turn Cancelled: 2 remaining visits cancelled.
| Mistake | What you see | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Booking over another visit | Doctor double-booked and the save is blocked | Click an Earlier free slot or Next free slot chip |
| Doctor without hours set | No out-of-hours warning | Set Working hours in Step 1 |
| Waitlist entry has both doctor and department | Department is disabled once a doctor is chosen | Pick one: the doctor, or only the department |
| Waiting for a web request to appear on its own | Web · Pending confirmation stays | Press the Confirm icon on the row |
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Working hours | A doctor's weekly availability; drives warnings and suggestions |
| Scheduling check | Live conflict, out-of-hours and past-time check while you edit a time |
| Override | Lets a blocked time be saved when you give a reason of at least 5 characters |
| Waitlist | Patients waiting for a cancelled or unused slot; oldest first |
| Series badge | Shows the visit's place, such as 1/3, in a repeat booking |
Why does the Scheduling check say Doctor double-booked? The doctor already has another appointment at that time, and this clinic blocks double-booking. Click an Earlier free slot or Next free slot chip to fill a free time.
How do I save a time in the past? Switch on Override and give a Reason of at least 5 characters. Without it, Save changes does not work for a past time.
How does the waitlist decide who gets a freed slot? The oldest entry is offered first. A doctor entry matches only that doctor's freed slots, and a department-only entry matches when the freed slot had no doctor.
Does Cancel remaining visits cancel the visit I am on? No. The first visit stays Scheduled and only the later visits in the series turn Cancelled. Visits already in progress are left alone.
GridX HMS runs this whole workflow. See what GridX HMS does and what it costs, or browse all step-by-step guides.