The Waitlist is a queue of people for whom there was no free slot. You record when and with whom they would like to come — and when someone else cancels an appointment matching those preferences, Heltio reaches out to them on its own.
The point of this feature is recovering cancelled slots. Without it, a cancellation is simply a hole in the day.
How to do it
Open the panel
In the calendar click Waitlist. The same queue sits on the reception dashboard as a Waitlist card with an All link.
Add someone to the queue
Add to Waitlist opens a form:
- Patient — search by surname.
- Service type — it has to match the service type of the cancelled appointment for a match to happen.
- Priority — Normal, High, Urgent.
- Preferred Date Range — From and To.
- Preferred Time — Earliest Time and Latest Time; empty means "any time of day".
- Preferred Practitioner (optional) — or Any available.
- Notes.
Saving is confirmed with Patient added to waitlist.
Know what happens after a cancellation
When an appointment is cancelled, Heltio looks for entries with the same Service type, a date range covering that slot, a matching time window and a matching (or any) practitioner.
From the matches it takes at most three — first by priority, then by the order they were added — moves them to Notified and sends a push notification and an email about the free slot. The message reserves nothing: whoever calls back first gets the slot.
Book a slot for someone waiting
Every entry has three actions: Book Now, Edit, Delete. Book Now opens Book Patient and lets you tie the entry to a specific upcoming appointment; the entry then moves to Booked.
If there is nothing free in the preferred window, Heltio will say No free slots found in the preferred window — pick a time manually.
Read the entry states
Waiting — waiting for a match. Notified — has been told about a free slot. Booked — settled. Expired — its preferred date range has passed and Heltio closed the entry itself. Cancelled, Skipped — removed by hand.
When something goes wrong
Only WAITING entries can be updated.
What this means: An attempt to edit an entry that is no longer **Waiting** — because it has been notified, booked or has expired.
Waitlist entry not found.
What this means: The entry has been deleted or booked by someone else in the meantime.
Failed to add to waitlist.
What this means: The save did not go through — most often because a required field is missing or because of a temporary connection problem.
Waitlist is empty.
What this means: Nobody is waiting — or all the entries have expired because their date range has passed.
Who has access
Clinic Admin ReceptionistAdding requires the permission to create appointments, removing an entry — the permission to cancel them. A practitioner can see the queue, but in practice reception runs it. The waitlist is a plan-gated feature: on a plan without it, Heltio takes you to the plan change page instead of opening the panel.
Related
- Appointment list — bulk cancellation, which triggers matching.
- Adding an appointment — for when a slot is found.
- Notification preferences — the patient can turn these notifications off on their side.
Related features
Calendar — week grid and list view
The main working screen of the practice: a full 24-hour grid across the week, a switch to the appointment list, filters, drag-and-drop rescheduling and time blocking.
Adding an appointment
How to book a patient: click an empty spot on the calendar, or use the New Appointment button. What the warnings about a busy slot and about working hours mean.
Appointment list — filters, printing and bulk actions
The table view of the calendar: narrowing by status, payment and visit card, CSV export, reminders and no-shows marked in bulk, printing a day or a week.
My notification preferences
Your own settings — what Heltio should remind you about, how loudly, on which device, and during which hours it should stay quiet.