Getting an appointment with a doctor or a dentist, particularly in the UK for an NHS appointment, can be a bit of a nightmare. Some clinics are booked up weeks in advance, leaving most people to rely on calling early to try and get an emergency dental appointment or a visit to the doctor’s surgery.

Emergency appointments are almost a waste of time for people with regular working hours, as you really have no idea when you’ll be seen and might struggle to get the time off work. Fortunately, some medical practices are finally taking advantage of the internet to help make patients’ lives easier.

Some dental practices, like www.white.co.uk in Southampton,  are now using online appointment booking software to allow patients to manage their own appointments. Some of these services allow patients to register with the clinic and book appointments at times that suit them, and some of the more advanced software actually sends reminders to patients automatically to remind them about their appointment.

These programs make things much easier for patients and clinics, as it removes a lot of the administration work typically involved in managing appointments.

Historically, practices would need to take calls to schedule appointments, add them to the system, manually send out reminders to patients, and manage any cancellations. By using an automated system, everyone’s life is made a little bit easier and allows medical professionals to do what they’re there to do – treat patients.

As more medical and dental practices incorporate this kind of software, making an appointment with your doctor or dentist will become so much easier. Welcome to the future!