Every appointment moves through a lifecycle from the moment it is booked to the moment the patient leaves. CAPS28 tracks this with a set of statuses, keeps a full activity log of who changed what and when, and uses the status to drive automatic reminder messages. Understanding this workflow is the key to a smoothly run front desk and surgery.
The appointment statuses
- S — Scheduled: the appointment has been booked.
- U — Unconfirmed: booked but not yet confirmed with the patient.
- C — Confirmed: the patient has confirmed they will attend.
- A — Arrived: the patient has checked in at reception (they now appear in the dashboard Waiting Room).
- T — In Treatment: the patient is in the chair being treated.
- F — Front Desk: treatment is finished and the patient is back at reception (for billing or their next appointment).
- L — Left: the visit is complete and the patient has left.
- X — Cancelled and N — No-show: the appointment did not happen (see Reschedule, move & cancel).
How to change an appointment’s status
- Click the appointment on the calendar to open it.
- Open the Status tab. CAPS28 offers only the statuses that make sense as the next step — for example, an Arrived patient can move to In Treatment, Front Desk or Left. (There is also a “show all statuses” option if you need to set any status directly.)
- Pick the new status, add a note if useful, and save. The change is stamped into the activity log.
The activity log
The Activity tab (shown above) is a complete, time-stamped history of the appointment: every status change, who made it, and any note they added. It answers questions like “what time did the patient arrive?” or “who confirmed this booking?” without any guesswork — a genuine audit trail for each visit.
Automatic reminders
When you book (or reschedule) an appointment, CAPS28 automatically schedules reminder messages so patients turn up on time:
- A reminder is queued for 24 hours before the appointment, and again 4 hours before (each subject to how far ahead the booking is).
- Reminders go out by SMS and WhatsApp, depending on the patient’s saved numbers, your subscription and your remaining message quota.
- If the appointment is rescheduled, the old reminders are cancelled and new ones are queued for the new time. If it is cancelled or marked no-show, pending reminders are removed.
Every message CAPS28 sends is also recorded on the patient’s Communications tab, where you can confirm it was delivered.
