Waiting Rooms
A waiting room can be selected on an appointment — either manually or auto-selected from the appointment type — to tell the client where to wait. Optionally, a Patient Capacity and Average Wait Time can be set to restrict how many appointments can use that waiting room.
Why this matters
Waiting rooms tell the client where to go on the day. Where a room, car park or building has a genuine occupancy limit, setting a Patient Capacity and Average Wait Time on the waiting room stops Diarybook overbooking it — a control introduced during COVID-19 as a social distancing measure, but useful anywhere waiting room capacity needs to be respected.
Before you start
Managing waiting rooms requires one of the Account Owner, Account Administrator or Change Settings privileges.
Optionally turn on the Mandatory Waiting Rooms account policy if every appointment should require a waiting room to be selected.
The elements of a waiting room
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Room Name | The name shown wherever the waiting room is selected, such as when booking an appointment. |
| Patient Capacity | Optionally, the number of clients that can safely occupy the waiting room, car park or building at any one time. |
| Average Wait Time | Optionally, the average number of minutes a client waits, in minutes. |
| Public Field | A description shown to clients on Self-Check-In screens and DiaryPage pages. |
Managing waiting rooms
Go to the Settings area and select Waiting Rooms. The screen shows a list of your waiting rooms: Waiting Room Name, Capacity and Wait Time (minutes).
Adding or editing a waiting room
Click Add Room in the toolbar to create one, or click an existing row to edit it.
Capacity and wait time limits
When both Patient Capacity and Average Wait Time are set, Diarybook uses them together to restrict how many appointments can be made for the waiting room. Leave either field blank if the waiting room should only direct clients, with no restriction on numbers.
Booking an appointment past this limit is a conflict, but — unlike most resource restrictions — it can be overridden. See Waiting room occupancy in Time conflicts.
Deleting a waiting room
Tick one or more waiting rooms in the list, then click Delete. Diarybook warns you first:
Deleting this waiting room removes it from any appointment types that auto-select it and from any appointments assigned to it. Any capacity or wait time limits on this room will no longer apply, and it will stop appearing on check-in screens and public pages. Are you sure?
What to watch for
A waiting room blocks a booking without an obvious reason
Patient Capacity and Average Wait Time work together to restrict how many appointments can use the waiting room — leaving one blank removes that restriction. Check both fields on the waiting room, not just Patient Capacity, when a booking is unexpectedly blocked.
An appointment type doesn’t auto-select the waiting room you expect
A waiting room only auto-selects onto an appointment when the appointment type itself has that waiting room assigned. Check the type’s Waiting room field if the wrong room — or no room — is being filled in.