How Patients Join the Waitlist
When you enable the waitlist on your online booking page, patients see a Join Waitlist option in two places — and a panel walks them through capturing their preferences. This article describes what your patients see, so your team can answer questions and understand what’s landing on the Waitlist Dashboard Card.
Where the Join Waitlist Option Appears
Patients see two entry points to the waitlist:
1. Bottom of the Next Availability Panel
On every service’s booking page, below the date and time selection, a small bell icon and the text “None of these work? Join waitlist” appears. This is the primary entry point — it’s visible regardless of whether availability was found.
2. After a Successful Booking
After a patient completes a booking, they’re offered a chance to also join the waitlist — useful if they took a later slot but would prefer something sooner if it opens up.
The Join Waitlist Panel
Clicking either entry point opens the Join Waitlist panel. The panel heading reads “Get notified when an appointment becomes available for:” followed by the appointment type the patient was viewing (e.g., “IV Session”).
The patient walks through several sections:
Which Practitioner?
A list of practitioners offering the service. Each option shows a profile photo and credentials. The patient can:
- Check “Any available practitioner” — the entry will match openings from every practitioner who offers the service on your booking page
- Or check one or more specific practitioners — only their openings will match
The patient can pick any combination. If the service is offered by only one practitioner, or if the patient is on a practitioner-specific booking page, that practitioner is pre-selected and locked.
When Are You Available?
Two modes, switched via a tab control:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Choose preferred times | Reveals a day-of-week × period grid (Mon–Sun across All Day / Morning / Afternoon / Evening) |
| Take the earliest possible time | ASAP — matches the earliest opening regardless of day or period |
If the patient picks Choose preferred times, they tick every cell where they’re available.
Limit to a Date Range (optional)
The patient can optionally restrict matching to a window of time:
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Any date | No restriction (default) |
| After | Only consider slots after a specific date |
| Between | Only consider slots within a date range |
| Before | Only consider slots before a specific date |
How Much Notice Do You Need?
A dropdown — typically defaulted to At least 24 hours. The system won’t show openings that are sooner than this notice period for that entry.
How Should We Notify You?
The patient picks one or more contact channels:
- Email — pre-filled with their account email; the field is editable for this entry only
- SMS / Text — opens a phone-number field if ticked
- Phone call — for staff to call out manually
Patients are told the contact info is for waitlist notifications only.
What Happens When the Patient Clicks Join Waitlist
- The system creates a new waitlist entry with the patient’s choices.
- The entry lands on your Waitlist Dashboard Card immediately.
- The bookability check runs in the background and tags the entry green / orange / red based on existing openings.
- The patient sees a confirmation message and the panel closes.
The patient is not automatically emailed or texted. Notification happens only when your staff manually triggers it from the dashboard card — see Notifying a Waitlist Patient.
Account Requirements
If a patient already has a patient portal account, the Join Waitlist flow uses their existing account.
If they don’t, the waitlist entry can still be created — the system uses the contact info entered in the panel to keep track of the patient. Whether an account is created automatically depends on your booking page’s Account Requirements setting.
Duplicate Detection
If the patient already has an active waitlist entry for the same appointment type, the system will detect that and offer to replace the existing entry with the new one. This avoids the same patient piling up multiple entries for the same service.
For non-account-holders, the duplicate check returns a generic success message rather than revealing whether the patient is already waitlisted — this is a deliberate privacy protection.
What If the Patient Wants to Change Their Mind
- If the patient is logged into their patient portal, they can view and cancel their own waitlist entries through the portal.
- Otherwise, they need to contact your office, and your staff can edit or cancel the entry from the Waitlist Dashboard Card. See Managing Waitlist Entries.
Frequently Asked Questions From Patients
”How will I know if an appointment opens up?”
When your staff sees a match on the Waitlist Dashboard Card, they manually contact the patient through whichever channel(s) the patient picked. There’s no automated notification.
”Will I be guaranteed the slot?”
No — the waitlist is a notification system, not a hold system. If a slot opens up, staff contact the patient. If the patient accepts, staff books them in. The slot can be taken by someone else in the meantime, so faster-responding patients win.
”Can I be on the waitlist for more than one service?”
Yes — patients can join the waitlist for as many different appointment types as they like. Each is a separate entry.
”Can I waitlist a family member?”
If the patient’s portal account has linked family members, they can switch profiles before joining the waitlist. See Adding Family Members to an Account.
Related Pages
- Waitlist Settings — turn on the patient-side Join Waitlist link on your online booking page
- The Waitlist Dashboard Card — where patient entries appear for your staff
- Notifying a Waitlist Patient — how staff contact patients about openings
- Adding a Patient to the Waitlist — the staff-side equivalent
- Waitlist Overview — what the waitlist is and how it works