Book Clinic Appointments from WhatsApp with Cliniko
This recipe takes a booking request on WhatsApp from first message to an appointment in Cliniko. It works out the appointment type, finds available times with the right practitioner and creates the appointment. Part of the Cliniko integration.
What happens today
A patient messages after work: “hi can I book physio for my back, any slot thurs after 6?”. Your practitioners are treating and the desk has gone home. The next morning someone checks Cliniko, replies with two times and waits. The patient may have booked an online slot elsewhere by then, or just put it off.
The flow that works
- The patient says what they need. AeroChat matches it to your appointment types, such as an initial consultation or a follow-up.
- It asks one short question about new or severe symptoms. A yes goes to a practitioner.
- It finds the patient in Cliniko, or sets up a new patient.
- It reads available times for that appointment type and practitioner and offers up to three.
- The patient picks one. AeroChat creates the appointment in Cliniko and sends the confirmation.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a patient asks to book, follow these steps.
- Find out what the appointment is for, whether they have seen us before, whether they want a particular practitioner, and the days and times they prefer. Use an initial consultation for new patients or a new problem, and a follow-up for existing patients with the same problem (example).
- Ask: “Is this a new injury, or do you have severe pain, numbness or any symptoms that worry you?” If they describe red-flag symptoms, do not book. Collect the details and hand the conversation to a practitioner.
- Ask for their full name and date of birth, and find them in Cliniko. If they are new, collect their name, date of birth, phone number and email, and create the patient.
- Check Cliniko for available times for the appointment type with a matching practitioner. Offer up to three times closest to what they asked for.
- When they choose, create the appointment in Cliniko with a short note of the reason for the visit.
- Send a confirmation with the date, time, practitioner, our address, parking notes, and what to wear or bring.
Never give clinical advice or a diagnosis. Only quote prices from our price list. If they ask anything you cannot answer from our documents, hand over to our team. Reply in the patient’s language.
Change the appointment types, the screening question and the what-to-bring notes to your own before you paste it.
What to connect
- Cliniko. Create an API key from My Info, Manage API keys, using a Cliniko user with front desk access. Enter it in the AeroChat dashboard when it asks.
- Your services and policies. Upload your appointment types, prices, address and cancellation policy to the AeroChat knowledge base.
- Payments, if you take deposits. Airwallex is built in. HitPay and Stripe connect with your API key if you already use them. Payment links are included from the Growth plan.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Which appointment types patients can book in chat.
- Which practitioners and locations are open to chat bookings.
- The screening question, and which answers go to a practitioner.
- Whether new patients pay a deposit.
AeroChat follows these as written. It never books a time Cliniko has not shown as available.
The result to expect
Patients who ask in the evening get a booked appointment in the same chat, and your desk stops relaying times back and forth. Measure it with your own numbers: appointments created from chat, and bookings made outside opening hours, for a month before and after you start.
Next: new patient intake and rescheduling and cancellation with Cliniko. See also the dental recipe for appointment booking.
Book your first appointment in chat
Paste the recipe, add your Cliniko API key, and message your own number asking for a session next week.
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.