🚨 Important: The 'Visits' panel is currently in Beta testing, and is not yet widely available. If you can't see it yet, you will do soon. Want to join the trial? Reach out to support!
What is the 'Visits' panel?
The 'Visits' panel allows you to:
Update the patient's status when they arrive
Confirm patients' key details
Manage patients' outstanding actions (including completing actions using Concierge, if you have it)
💡Top tip: The 'Visits' panel can be opened from anywhere in Dentally, and it will open to the right-hand side, on top of your existing page, so your work won't be interrupted. You can easily close and reopen it whenever you need.
How do I access the 'Visits' panel?
The 'Visits' panel is visible to all roles and permission levels. To access it:
Click the arrows icon in the left-hand toolbar, below the 'Recently viewed patients' icon.
The 'Visits' side panel will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.
The tool displays a list of all patients with an appointment today. It displays:
The patient’s name
The practitioner(s) they are booked in to see
The number of appointments they are booked in for today (the grey calendar badge to the right of the name)
Any patient who has an appointment today will be listed (in chronological order by first appointment time). They will stay in the list for the duration of that day, even if their appointment time has passed or if they did not attend. From here, you can find a patient by:
Scrolling up and down
Using the search bar
You can click on a patient's row in the list to open and manage their visit, and complete any actions required.
If you click on a patient, Their details will be displayed, including:
Their name, date of birth, address and contact details
Account details, including current balance and payment plan/fee schedule (for UK NHS practices, exemptions will also be shown)
Details of today's appointment, including the time, practitioner, room, reason and status
Outstanding actions that need to be completed
To go back to the full list of patients, simply click 'Back' at the bottom. To close the tool completely, click the X in the top corner. You can reopen the panel at any time using the steps above.
💡 Top tip: If you book an appointment for today, the patient will appear in the 'Visits' panel straight away.
What actions can be completed in the 'Visits' panel?
When you have opened the 'Visits' panel and clicked on a patient to manage their visit, you can view any outstanding actions they need to complete before or after their appointment.
You will see the 'Actions' header under the 'Today's appointments' section, with a number in orange next to it, showing how many outstanding actions there are.
Under this header, you will see a list of the outstanding action cards.
The actions you may see in this section are:
Medical history needs updating - Patients can complete medical history on a tablet (if you use Concierge), or you can open their medical history in a new window via the three-dot menu and complete it with them. If this action is required, a red Medical history label will display on their appointment card.
Contact details are missing - Patients can update their contact details on the tablet (if you use Concierge), or you can manually edit them by clicking 'Update contact details' in the action card, and typing in their details. The wording of this action may vary depending on what details are missing.
Confirm outstanding balance - This prompts you to check their account balance, with the option to click 'View Account', which will take you through to the 'Account' tab in the patient's record. Please note that this will navigate you away from the Dentally page you were on previously, but the 'Visits' panel will stay open.
Can I use Concierge with the 'Visits' panel?
If you use Concierge, it integrates seamlessly with the 'Visits' tool. When you are using the 'Visits' panel, your patients can complete outstanding actions on a tablet device, and the 'Visits' panel will show this.
📝 Please note: To use Concierge with the 'Visits' panel, you will need access to Concierge, and to have your device paired.
When viewing outstanding actions in the 'Visits' panel, look for the tablet icon next to the action card - this indicates that the action can be completed on Concierge.
If the action has the Concierge icon, simply hand your Concierge-enabled tablet device to the patient so they can sign in using their date of birth and surname initial. They will be presented with a list of outstanding actions, which they can complete on the device, before handing it back to you.
When an action is completed on Concierge, the 'Visits' panel will immediately update to show the action has been completed.
🚨 Important: Using Concierge alongside the 'Visits' tool will enhance your patients' experience, but access to Concierge is not essential in order for you to still enjoy the benefits of the 'Visits' panel.