Are you wondering why a Wait List Notification wasn’t triggered after a cancellation or why only certain patients were eligible to be notified about the cancellation? There are many things that can prevent a Wait List Notification from going out so let’s take a look at those together!🕵️
💡 Please note, Wait List Notifications require the Thrive plan.
- Is the Wait List Notification feature on?
- Is the patient waitlisted for an appointment type with a scheduled length longer than the cancelled appointment?
- Does the staff member have Shifts set up?
- Is the staff member’s shift set up as Contact to Book or Not Bookable Online?
- Are waitlisted patients requesting an appointment type that is set up as Contact to Book?
- Did the cancellation take place within the Do Not Allow Booking Within period?
- Are there Tags on the appointment type that the patient is waitlisted for but not on the shift the cancellation is on (or vice versa)?
- Did the patient request an appointment type which requires a Resource that isn’t available?
- Is the patient waitlisted for an appointment type that is now Archived?
- Was there a break blocking the cancelled slot when the Wait List Notification should have gone out?
- Does the staff member have Cluster Online Booking enabled?
- Does the staff member have Make Me Look Busy enabled?
Is the Wait List Notification feature on?
If Wait List Notifications are not enabled in your Settings > Wait Lists, no Wait List Notification block will be shown. Check out our Using Wait List Notifications Jane guide for more info on enabling Wait List Notifications.
Is the patient waitlisted for an appointment type with a scheduled length longer than the cancelled appointment?
Wait List Notifications are only triggered for appointments with the same or a shorter scheduled length than the appointment that was cancelled. This applies even if there is availability after the cancelled slot for a longer appointment. Jane does not consider free time adjacent to a cancelled appointment, only what would fit in the time slot of the cancelled appointment.
For example, if a staff member has an open shift from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and only has one booked 30 minute appointment from 1:00 - 1:30 PM; if that one appointment is cancelled, Jane will create a Wait List Notification block only for patients waitlisted for appointments that are 30 minutes or less, even though there is technically time in the schedule for an appointment longer than 30 minutes.
Does the staff member have Shifts set up?
In order for Wait List Notifications to work, the staff member’s schedule needs to have a shift under the cancelled appointment.
Is the staff member’s Shift set up as Contact to Book or Not Bookable Online?
If the staff member’s shift is set up as Contact to Book or Not Bookable Online, no Wait List Notification will be triggered.
Are waitlisted patients requesting an appointment type that is set up as Contact to Book?
If all patients on the Wait List are requesting an appointment that is set up as Contact to Book, a Wait List Notification block will appear so the Wait List Notifications can be triggered administratively (check out our Using Wait List Notifications Jane guide for more info on managing Wait List Notifications administratively) but the Wait List Notification will not be triggered automatically.
Please note, the exception here would be in the case where at least one patient on the Wait List is eligible for the time slot and has requested an appointment that is Bookable Online, not set up as Contact to Book. In this scenario, Jane will send the Wait List Notification to all eligible patients on the Wait List, including those who requested a Contact to Book appointment.
Did the cancellation take place within the Do Not Allow Booking Within period?
If the cancelled appointments fall within your clinic’s Do Not Allow Booking Within period (located in your Settings > Online Booking), no Wait List Notification will be triggered.
Are there Tags on the appointment type that the patient is waitlisted for but not on the shift the cancellation is on (or vice versa)?
If the patient is waitlisted for an appointment type that has a Tag, but the shift does not have the same Tag (or vice versa), the patient will not be eligible for a Wait List Notification. However, the Wait List Notification block may still appear if other patients on the Wait List are eligible.
Did the patient request an appointment type which requires a resource that isn’t available?
If the patient is waitlisted for an appointment type that requires a Resource which is unavailable for that time period, the patient will not be eligible for a Wait List Notification. However, the Wait List Notification block may still appear if other patients on the Wait List are eligible.
Is the patient waitlisted for an appointment type that is now Archived?
If the appointment type a patient is waitlisted for has since been Archived, no Wait List Notification will be sent to the patient.
Was there a break blocking the cancelled slot when the Wait List Notification should have gone out?
If there was a Break blocking the time slot for a cancelled appointment, no Wait List Notification would be triggered.
To investigate if there was a break in the schedule, you can check out Reports > Appointments to filter the Appointments Report for Breaks to check if there were any deleted breaks at the day and time of the slot.
Does the staff member have Cluster Online Booking enabled?
If the staff member has Cluster Online Booking enabled in their Staff Profile > Edit / Settings > Online Booking and the cancelled appointment is not adjacent to an already booked appointment in the schedule, no Wait List Notification will be triggered.
Does the staff member have Make Me Look Busy enabled?
If the staff member has Make Me Look Busy enabled in their Staff Profile > Edit / Settings > Online Booking and the Online Booking Site is already displaying the max available appointments for that staff member, no Wait List Notification will be triggered.
Those are a few things you may want to consider as you’re investigating why a Wait List Notification was not triggered or why a certain patient was not eligible for a Wait List Notification.
With that being said, if you don’t believe any of these scenarios match yours and you’d like a helping hand, you’re more than welcome to reach out and chat with us. Check out our Contact Us page for info on how to connect with our team. 💙