Healthcare Usage scenario

Online booking and automatic reminders for a clinic with six doctors

A clinic with six doctors moves from paper diaries to online booking, with SMS or WhatsApp reminders and confirmation, connected to the existing patient software.

Describe your project See the solution

Project overview

This scenario illustrates what we build; it is not a client reference.

This scenario shows how a clinic where appointments are booked by phone can offer online booking, send an automatic reminder and a one-message confirmation by SMS or WhatsApp, and give reception a shared agenda. The patient software already in place stays the reference: the new application connects to it.

Client challenges & requirements

A private clinic brings together six doctors: two general practitioners, a paediatrician, a gynaecologist, a cardiologist and a dentist. Appointments are booked by phone, at reception, and written in a paper diary per doctor. The line is often busy; patients call back, or come in without an appointment.

Many appointments are missed without notice, and the slot is lost while other patients were waiting. When a doctor is away, reception has to call each patient one by one. The existing patient software keeps the records and billing, but its agenda module is not used.

Main objectives

Let patients book a slot online, from a phone, without creating a complicated account

Send an automatic reminder before each appointment, with confirmation or cancellation in a single SMS or WhatsApp message

Give reception a shared agenda of the six doctors, with slots freed by cancellations

Read and write appointments in the existing patient software instead of replacing it

Project solution

We start small

The reception agenda. A Laravel web application replaces the six paper diaries with one screen: the six columns, free slots, confirmed patients, those who have not replied. Each doctor sets their hours and consultation length. The online booking page is designed for phones and slow connections: the patient picks the doctor, a slot, gives their name and number, and receives the confirmation by SMS or WhatsApp.
Reminders go out through the WhatsApp Business API or by SMS: if the appointment is in two days, a reminder with two possible replies, "1" to confirm, "2" to cancel; if the patient cancels, the slot becomes visible again online and at reception; if the patient does not reply, they show in orange in the agenda and reception calls them.
If a doctor is away, reception cancels their day in one click and each patient receives a message with a link to pick another slot. Appointments are read and written in the existing patient software through its API; the medical record stays in that software, the new application stores only the name, the number and the appointment. Data is encrypted and each role, reception, doctor, management, sees only what it needs.
A mobile app for doctors shows their day and the morning's cancellations. The hosting provider is chosen with the clinic, and a maintenance contract covers updates, backups and support.

Indicators to track

Share of appointments missed without notice
Share of appointments confirmed by message before the day before
Share of bookings made online rather than by phone
Slots freed by cancellation and then reassigned
Time reception spends on the phone

Tech stack

Application web: Laravel Livewire PostgreSQL
Application mobile médecins: Flutter
Messaging: WhatsApp Business API Passerelle SMS
Integration: API du logiciel patient existant
Sécurité et exploitation: Chiffrement des données Accès par rôle Sauvegardes quotidiennes

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Reception books the appointment in the same agenda as online booking, and the patient gets the same reminder. Online booking absorbs part of the calls, it does not forbid them.

The medical record stays in the existing patient software. The new application keeps only the name, the phone number and the appointments, encrypted, with a hosting provider chosen with the clinic. Each role sees only what it needs, and every view of an appointment is logged.

We check this during the analysis, with its vendor. If there is no API, two options: a scheduled export and import of appointments, or the agenda becomes the reference and reception only re-enters new patients in the software. The choice is made with the clinic before building.