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How to cancel an appointment

Cancelling and rebooking appointments

Hebe Neate-Clegg avatar
Written by Hebe Neate-Clegg
Updated this week

πŸ’‘ Top tip: It is important to understand the difference between cancelling and deleting appointments. Deleting appointments is not recommended.

How do I cancel an appointment?

There are two ways to cancel an appointment. This is different from deleting an appointment, which is not recommended.

To delete an appointment from within the patient record:

  • In the patient record, go to the 'Appointments' tab.

  • Go to the 'Booked Appointments' section.

  • Click the 'Edit' πŸ“ icon to the left of the appointment date.

  • In the window that appears, change the 'Status' to 'Cancelled'.

  • In the 'Cancellation Reason' section, choose the reason that the appointment has been cancelled.

  • When you have finished, click 'Save'.

  • The appointment will then be removed from the calendar, and the appointment in the patient record will show as cancelled.

A record of this appointment will be shown in the patient's 'Audit' tab. It can also be retrieved by support even if you don't remember the name of the patient. Remember, you would need to manually contact the patient to confirm that their appointment has been cancelled.

To cancel an appointment from within the calendar:

  • In the calendar, locate the relevant appointment.

  • Right click the chosen appointment.

  • In the menu that appears, click 'Cancel'.

  • You will be prompted to select a reason for the cancellation.

  • The appointment will then be removed from the calendar, and the appointment in the patient record will show as cancelled.

πŸ’‘ Top tip: You may wish to move an appointment instead of cancelling.


Rebooking a cancelled appointment

Any time that an appointment is Cancelled in Dentally or marked as Did not
Attend
the 'Clipboard' icon will automatically appear next to that appointment in the patient's 'Appointment' tab.


If the patient wishes to rebook the appointment at the time of cancelling you can:

  • Click on the 'Clipboard' icon next to the appointment to add this to the clipboard.

  • Go to your Calendar and click on the clipboard in the top right.

  • Find a suitable day and time and simply drag and drop the appointment from your clipboard onto the diary at the required time.

πŸ“ Please note: Any notes added when the appointment was cancelled will still be attached to the appointment if rebooked this way. These can be removed if required when rebooked.


Rebooking the appointment later

If the patient is not ready to rebook the cancelled appointment at the time of cancelling, but contacts you again later, simply navigate to the patient's 'Appointments' tab and click on the 'Clipboard' icon then.

πŸ’‘ Top Tip: The clipboard is a global feature that everyone in your team has access to.

We recommend only adding an appointment to the clipboard if you are about to make the appointment for the patient there and then!


You can remove an appointment from the clipboard by clicking the 'Delete' πŸ—‘οΈ icon on the Calendar Clipboard.

calendar clipboard with the delete bin icon on the right.

Or if you are in the patients record you can remove the appointment from the clipboard again using the 'Delete' πŸ—‘οΈ icon to the left of the 'On Clipboard' status.

image showing the delete icon on the patients appointment tab

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