Appointment reminders
Automatic confirmations and day-before reminders by SMS and email.
Reminders run by themselves. Every new appointment produces a confirmation shortly after booking, and every upcoming appointment produces a reminder the day before. Both go out by SMS and email, and both are suppressed for appointments that have been moved or cancelled.
What you can do here
- Booking confirmation about an hour after the appointment is created
- Reminder the day before the appointment
- SMS first, with email in parallel
- Automatic suppression for moved and cancelled appointments
- No patient messages for internal calendars such as the operation room
- Every send recorded against the patient
What goes out, and when
- The schedule is checked every 15 minutes, so messages go out promptly without being instant
- Dates and times are formatted for Switzerland, including the weekday
- Replies come back to the clinic's own address, so a patient answering the reminder reaches a human
| Message | Timing | Channels |
|---|---|---|
| Booking confirmation | Around an hour after the appointment is created. | SMS and email |
| Appointment reminder | The day before the appointment. | SMS and email |
When nothing is sent
Suppression is deliberate and centralised, so every send path agrees. Nothing goes out when:
- The appointment is tagged as moved (Déplacé) — the patient will be reminded about the new slot instead
- The appointment is tagged as cancelled (Annulé)
- The entry belongs to an internal calendar such as the operation room
- The patient has no reachable phone number or email address
Important
This is why agenda statuses matter. Rescheduling by creating a new appointment and tagging the old one as moved is what keeps reminders correct.
How the channels are chosen
- 1
SMS is attempted first
It is sent through Twilio and recorded in the patient communication log.
- 2
Email is sent as well
The email uses the clinic's appointment template with the date, time, weekday and location.
- 3
Both are logged
The send is recorded against the patient, so anyone opening the file can see the patient was reminded.
Note
If an SMS cannot be sent, the email is still attempted independently.
Using reminders to reduce no-shows
- Keep patient phone numbers in international format so SMS can reach them — imported numbers are normalised for Switzerland automatically
- Mark no-shows honestly in the agenda so the pattern is visible in reporting
- Use a workflow to create a follow-up task when an appointment is cancelled, so the slot gets refilled
- Check the Missed Calls page — a patient trying to reach you to move an appointment often shows up there first
Frequently asked
- Can we change the wording or the timing?
- The templates and the schedule are configured by your administrator during onboarding. WhatsApp message templates in particular are maintained under Settings › WhatsApp Templates.
- A patient says they never got a reminder.
- Open the patient file and check the communication history for that appointment. The most common causes are a mistyped mobile number, an appointment tagged as moved or cancelled, or an entry on an internal calendar.
Related pages
Last updated September 2025. Screens may differ slightly depending on your plan and role.