The waitlist holds patients who'd like an earlier appointment. When a slot frees up, Atlacare offers it to the best match, and the first patient to tap Book this slot gets it. Cancellations get filled without you ringing round.
The waitlist is included on the Clinic and Practice plans. On Free and Solo, the Waitlist page explains the feature and links to the plans.
Add a patient to the waitlist
You can add someone from three places:
- Appointments → Waitlist: click Add patient and search for them.
- The patient's profile: open the Actions menu and choose Add to waitlist.
- The booking sheet: when nothing suits, look for No suitable time? under the times and click Add (patient name) to the waitlist.
Every preference is optional. Leave one blank and it means "any":
- Service, Practitioner and Location
- Earliest date and Latest date
- Days and Times (morning, afternoon, evening)
- Staff notes, which only staff see and are never sent to the patient
Manage the list
Appointments → Waitlist shows everyone, with tabs for Waiting, Booked, Removed / expired and All. You can filter by practitioner and service.
On the Waiting tab, use the arrows to move a patient up or down. Higher on the list means they're offered a slot first when more than one patient matches. You can edit or remove an entry. A removed patient's offers stop working, and you can put them back later.
Two labels to look out for:
- No email or mobile: the patient can't be sent offers.
- Safeguarding flag: the patient isn't sent offers. Book them directly.
How offers work
A slot counts as freed when an appointment is cancelled or moved to another time, or when new working hours open up time. Atlacare then:
- Finds waiting patients whose preferences match the slot.
- Sends an offer to the best match (or up to three at once, if you choose) by email, and by text when the patient has a mobile and text messages are on.
- Books the slot for the first patient to tap Book this slot. Any other offers for that slot stop working.
If nobody books before the offer expires, it goes to the next match. Offers use Atlacare's standard wording: clinic name, date and time, practitioner and the booking link.
Offer settings
Owners and managers can open Offer settings on the Waitlist page:
- Send waitlist offers: when off, the list stays but no offers are sent.
- When a slot frees up: offer it automatically to the best match, or show staff the matches so they press Offer themselves.
- Offer expires after: from 1 to 24 hours (2 hours to start with).
- Patients offered at once: 1 at a time, or up to 2 or 3 (first to book wins).
- Close offers before the slot: how close to the appointment offers stop.
Freed slots
The Freed slots panel lists slots in the next 14 days that came free and are still open, with how many waiting patients match. Click Offer to send an offer by hand, or to offer again.
Atla Flow
An Atla Flow can add a patient to the waitlist automatically, as an "any time" entry.