Rescheduling & cancelling

Plans change. Here's how to move or call off an appointment — and what the patient sees when you do.

Rescheduling (moving to a new time)

1. Open the appointment (click it on the calendar).
2. Click Reschedule.
3. Pick the new date and choose from the available slots — same rules as booking: you only see times the doctor is genuinely free.
4. Save.

What the patient sees: an automatic email with the new date and time. You don't need to call them — though for same-day changes a quick phone call is still kind.

Cancelling

1. Open the appointment.
2. Click Cancel Appointment and confirm.

What the patient sees: an automatic cancellation email. The slot immediately becomes free for someone else.

Cancel vs. Delete — important difference

• Cancel = the appointment stays in history, marked cancelled, patient notified. Use this.
• Delete = admin-only. The appointment disappears from all lists. Use only for true mistakes (e.g. a test booking). No email is sent to the patient. See Deleting records.

When a doctor asks to move an appointment

Doctors can send a reschedule request from their own portal (they can't move bookings themselves). The request comes to front desk:

1. You'll see the doctor's request with their reason.
2. Pick a new slot that works and confirm.
3. The patient gets the updated confirmation automatically.

Common questions

Patient cancelled by phone — do I cancel or delete? Cancel. Always cancel. History matters — you'll want to know later how often this patient cancels.

Can the patient reschedule themselves? Not from the email — they contact you and you do it. (The booking widget on your site is for new bookings.)

We cancelled but the patient says they got no email. Check Administration → Email Monitor (admins) to see whether the email bounced — see Email monitor.