What is 'Practitioner locking' on Dentally Portal?
'Practitioner locking' allows you to control which practitioners are available for your existing patients to book appointments with online.
It can be enabled per payment plan on Dentally Portal, to give you confidence that your patients, no matter their plan, will be seen by the right provider.
With 'Practitioner locking' enabled, a patient will only be able to book appointments online with the provider associated with them in their patient details screen.
With 'Practitioner locking' disabled, patients will be able to book with any provider, as long as they are configured on the Dentally Portal.
💡 Top tip: If a patient is not able to book an appointment online, even though there is calendar availability, this is likely because practitioner locking has been enabled. To troubleshoot issues with patients unable to book an appointment online, check this first and then get in touch with Support.
How to configure 'Practitioner locking' on Dentally Portal?
Go to portal.dentally.com
Navigate to 'Online Booking' then 'Plans & pricing'.
Click 'Manage' on the right.
You will see the 'Practitioner Locking' toggle to switch on or off.
How 'Practitioner locking' affects your patients
In these two scenarios, we will be looking at two plans -Private and NHS- and showcasing how this affects your patients when they go to book online.
Private Patients
With Practitioner Locking Enabled:
If a private patient tries to book an NHS appointment: Not permitted.
If a private patient tries to book a private appointment: They are only allowed to book with their assigned practitioner.
With Practitioner Locking Disabled:
If a private patient tries to book an NHS appointment: Not permitted.
If a private patient tries to book a private appointment: It defaults to searching for time with their assigned practitioner but can book with other practitioners.
NHS Patients [NHS practices only]:
With Practitioner Locking Enabled:
If an NHS patient tries to book an NHS appointment: They are only allowed to book with their assigned practitioner.
If an NHS patient tries to book a private appointment: It defaults to searching for time with their assigned practitioner but can book with other practitioners.
With Practitioner Locking Disabled:
If an NHS patient tries to book an NHS appointment: It defaults to search their assigned practitioner but can book with other practitioners.
If an NHS patient tries to book a private appointment: It defaults to searching for time with their assigned practitioner but can book with other practitioners.
Other factors to consider...
Patients will only be able to book with a specific provider if they are enabled against a booking reason online.
If you are unsure who is set up at your practice, you can check your booking reasons on portal.dentally.com by going to 'Online Booking' > 'Appointments'.