Booking System

Re: Booking System

Robin Grimmer — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:37:34 GMT

Surely anyone is capable of looking up veterinary practices on Google maps on their smart phone and then just calling them? Not sure why you would need an app for this.

Re: Booking System

Bob Russell — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:21:51 GMT

A good example of using technology because you can!

Might be of value for the pile 'em up high, look cheap but fleece 'em brigade!

A friendly phone call with a pleasant and well trained member of staff is worth a thousand app's!

Re: Booking System

Sammy82 — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:17:50 GMT

Even if the system was linked to one practice and only available to clients already registered I don't think it would help to run a practice smoothly. Triaging by a well trained receptionist or nurse is important to make sure clients book an appointment at an apropiate time (no planned bloodsample at 5.30 on a friday afternoon when the nurse went home at 5 and the postoffice is closed etc), no kennelcoughing dog in the middle of a full waiting room, no on-death's-door dog getting an appointment 2 days later because all spaces have already been taken up by puppy vaccinations etc. Sometimes owners are unaware of the procedure they are asking for, had people not knowing that the cat spay they requested would involve surgery and wasn't just a magic trick I could perform by looking at the cat during a 10min consult. Sometimes timing of the appointment is important, e.g. serum drug level test x hours after tablet etc. Of course the most common scenarios could be incorporated into a computer based system, e.g. only allowing certain times f bloodsampling, but this would likely make the program very confusing for the client.

Re: Booking System

bob lehner — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 09:46:27 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]I also suspect that the sort of people who would find this sort of service convenient would also be those with the highest risk of no-shows.[/quote]

[quote user="Sam"]I assume you are going to ask vets to pay for some sort of membership for this service?[/quote]

Well I totally agree what others have said and if I was still a practice owner I think I would avoid this sort of scheme like the plague.

I have had experience of using Booking.com, Laterooms.com, Tripadvisor etc. as a business owner - and can tell you that they charge a very hefty commission (c. 20% of the room charge); you have no direct contact with the client - so no idea whether they are the sort of person you would want to do business with; they won't allow you to even mention your own web-site on their sites (in case the client then books directly with you); if the client fails to turn up they still take their hefty commission - so you lose out twice as by then you can't re-let the room; they claim that their prices are always the best - but not true, as many businesses will charge less for a direct booking so as to mitigate the heavy commission charges.

i.e. everything is weighted in favour of them and not you

Basically they are useful for people who are too idle to do some independent research into whatever it is they are looking for.

I hate 'em !!

Re: Booking System

Sam — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 19:42:18 GMT

I think it should take more than 20 seconds to enable an appointment to be booked. In my practice my staff are trained to ask for details when booking appointments on the phone or in person at the desk. Why does the pet need to be seen? Have we seen it before? If not where was it last registered? Just as a few examples. It starts to build rapport and help us ensure we are prepared for the case.

Also it is part of our professional responsibility to ensure we are booking patients in at a time suitable for the individual aspects of the case. For example, a coughing dog may have a contagious disease (Kennel cough) and we would not allow that patient to be among others in the waiting room. A long involved euthanasia case would need lots of time around it to allow the consulting vet to take care of the clients in a caring and non- rushed manner. An emergency would be told to attend the practice immediately etc etc.

You are perhaps not from a veterinary background? I assume you are going to ask vets to pay for some sort of membership for this service? It is not the kind of thing I would feel the need to subscribe to. Are you also the people sending random emails about some amazing product about to launch? If you are, I am sorry to say it is probably completely the wrong approach. (Certainly it goes into my spam box!)

Not wanting to be harsh, only constructive criticism intended!

Re: Booking System

Martin Atkinson — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 18:33:19 GMT

I will be kinder than Evelyn and not dismiss this as SPAM.

The immediate problem I see here is that there is a relationship between the vet and the pet owner which some may see as protectionism but essentially is aimed at safeguarding the welfare of the pet. It is not as simple as: log on to the internet and book an appointment for the most convenient time with the nearest available vet. Most pet owners are already registered with a vet and it is not desirable or ethical for patients to flit between vets for convenience sake. Also most of these clients are registered with their vet for a reason, some good some not so good, so they probably wouldn't want to use a system like this even if it were available.

Unless I'm completely misunderstanding your modus operandi here I don't think you will get many takers. I certainly wouldn't want to have random appointments from random clients, I want to know something about them and their pet's history before I fill up my appointments with cases about which I have no prior knowledge. I also suspect that the sort of people who would find this sort of service convenient would also be those with the highest risk of no-shows.

Re: Booking System

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 18:26:09 GMT