Updated 2026-08-07 · 3 min read
The objection is reasonable and comes up at almost every clinic: «I don't want just anyone filling up my calendar». Behind it there are three specific fears —sessions overlapping, someone booking a slot that doesn't exist and a first assessment ending up in a twenty-minute slot— and all three are solved with the same idea: the page decides nothing, the calendar is still in charge.
1. Real slots, per professional and per treatment
A first assessment doesn't last as long as a follow-up session, and there are treatments not everyone on the team performs. If the page shows thirty-minute slots without knowing what it's for or who does it, a mismatch is guaranteed.
The right thing is for the page to ask the SAME calendar the team uses. If the system that shows the slots isn't the one that books them, there are two versions of the truth and one of them is wrong.
2. The first assessment, first on the list
Someone arriving online at a physiotherapy clinic almost never knows which treatment to ask for. If the first option in the drop-down is «dry needling», they'll pick something at random.
Putting the first assessment at the top, with a line explaining that it's the appointment where the physiotherapist decides the treatment, sorts out ninety per cent of wrongly made bookings.
3. What the page should NOT ask
Name, phone number and what kind of appointment they want. And not much more. A booking page isn't the place to ask for past conditions, medication or detailed descriptions of what hurts: it isn't needed to book, and it isn't a suitable channel for that kind of information.
A free «reason» field is fine if it's understood as a short, optional operational note for the team. Not as a history.
4. No commission per appointment
Booking portals that charge a percentage per patient work at first and become expensive just when the clinic is doing well. What's more, the patient who arrives that way belongs to the portal, not to the clinic: if one day you change platform, the list stays there.
A booking page of your own, on the clinic's domain, doesn't have that problem. The patients belong to the clinic and the cost doesn't grow with success.
5. Being able to switch it off without drama
There are weeks when it doesn't suit you: the team is flat out, someone is on leave, the rota is being reorganised. Being able to close online booking for a while, or leave only the first assessment available, is what lets you use it without fear.
How ClaudIA does it
The booking page comes from the same calendar as WhatsApp and the phone: same treatments, same durations, same hours and the same absences. What isn't free doesn't appear, and whatever is booked blocks the slot instantly on every channel.
There's no commission per appointment: the plan is flat and doesn't change because the clinic fills up more.
Questions clinics ask
Can someone book a slot that's already taken? No. The slots come from the calendar in real time and the booking blocks it instantly on every channel at once.
Can I limit which treatments are booked online? Yes. The usual approach is to leave the first assessment and follow-up sessions, and keep out whatever needs talking through first.
Is there a commission per patient? No. The plan is a flat fee; there's no percentage per appointment or per new patient.
And if I want to switch it off for a while? It's switched off from the dashboard and the page stops offering slots. The WhatsApp and phone channels carry on as before.