The patient is not getting SMS

No entry means Heltio did not even try to send. The most common reasons:

• No phone number on file. Edit the patient profile to add one. — with no number there is nothing to send to.
• A send block: in the communication preferences the Current status field shows Opted out instead of Receiving SMS.
• The channel switched off for that kind of notification — see step 3.
• The limit of 5 SMS a day per patient — further messages in that window are not created.
• The reminder was skipped because the patient got a confirmation or a reschedule notice just before the visit.
• The appointment was brought over from the previous system by an import — an import sends no confirmations or reminders.
• The confirmation is still waiting — it goes out about 15 minutes after the appointment is saved.

The statuses are literal and each one leads somewhere different:

• Queued and Sending — the message is on its way, wait a moment.
• Sent — the operator accepted the message; Delivered — they confirmed it reached the handset.
• Undelivered and Failed — most often a wrong number or a phone that is switched off.
• Opt-out (blocked) — the patient replied STOP, or there is a block on their record.
• Wallet exhausted (reminder held) — the SMS wallet is empty and the message did not go out; Heltio does not send it by e-mail instead.

The notifications screen is a table: a row is a kind of notification, the columns are Email, SMS and Push. The row First reminder with the SMS column off means no patient will get that reminder by text, whatever their own preferences say.

The Sent column shows the lead time: the first reminder has the value the practice set (3 to 96 h, 24 by default), the 2-hours-before reminder is fixed. A change of lead time applies only to appointments booked or moved after saving.

The SMS wallet card splits the balance into Included this month and Packages, and shows the Total balance. When the balance is low the warning SMS balance is low appears; at zero it becomes SMS wallet exhausted with the explanation: "SMS reminders are on hold — they are not sent by email. Top up to resume sends."

Buy more SMS leads to the packages; the payment goes through Przelewy24, and the texts are added to the balance once it is confirmed. To avoid coming back to this every month, turn on Auto top-up and set a threshold.

Every row of the notification table has Send test SMS. You give a number in the format +48600000000 and receive exactly what the patient will receive. The limit is 5 test sends per clinic per 24h.