Cancel or rebook by text - no phone call needed.

Most practice software already sends a reminder text. That's not the problem any more - the problem is what happens next: someone can't make it, so they ring, and reception spends five minutes finding a slot and reading it out over the phone. Multiply that by a full day of cancellations and reschedules.

An agent can let that same reply - "can't make it", "can I move to Thursday" - be handled by text, checking the diary and offering real slots back, without a call. And when a slot frees up, instead of it sitting empty until someone notices, it can go straight to whoever's on your waiting list.

It stays out of anything clinical, completely. Here's exactly where that line sits.

Phase 1 - the agent handles the reply

1. Read the reply. A patient texts or WhatsApps back - "can't make it", "need to move Thursday" - instead of ringing.

2. Check the diary. The agent looks at what's actually free, not a stale list - real slots, right now. For a dental practice running Dentally, that's a straightforward API connection into the diary you already use - no new booking system to learn.

3. Offer slots back, and the waiting list. A drafted reply goes back with two or three real options. Separately, if the original slot is now free, a drafted offer goes to whoever's next on your waiting list.

Phase 2 - clinical stays entirely human

4. You or reception check the queue. The proposed reply and the waiting-list offer sit ready for a glance before either goes.

5. One approval sends it. Approve, and the diary updates and both patients get a confirmation - the one who moved, and the one who took the freed slot.

6. Anything clinical goes straight to a human. If a reply mentions a symptom, a worry, anything beyond "can I move my slot" - it's flagged straight to your team, never answered by the agent.

Why the line never moves

This is bookings and rescheduling only - never anything clinical, and that doesn't flex for convenience. The value isn't the agent being clever about diary logic; it's two things reception rarely has time for at once: getting a slot filled again by text instead of a phone tag, and not letting that freed slot go to waste while someone on a waiting list would have taken it gladly.

Worth saying plainly: this is shown as a simple version. The same pattern can be built simple or pushed a lot further - more sources it watches, more it can draft, more it checks before handing back to you - depending on what your business actually needs.

What the £199 buys, and what it doesn't

The Working Diagnosis buys the plan for your version of this - not the build itself. The report is yours to keep either way. If we go further, the £199 is credited off the first invoice.