Weekly schedules, blocks and overrides
How a doctor's bookable hours are built from weekly schedules, blocks and overrides, what you can edit on screen today, and what needs your implementation team.
A doctor can be booked only during their schedule at a centre. This page explains how LeapHealthOS works out a doctor's bookable hours for a day, how to edit the weekly schedule in Doctor Configuration, and which kinds of availability have no screen yet. It is for administrators and front-desk managers who maintain doctors' hours.
The three kinds of availability
Kind | What it is for | Example |
|---|---|---|
Schedule | The doctor's regular working hours. | Monday to Friday, 09:30 to 13:00 and 16:00 to 20:00 at the main centre. |
Block | Time the doctor is not available, inside their normal hours. | Leave on 12 March, or a training session every Friday afternoon. |
Override | Special hours for a date that replace everything else for that day. | Working only 10:00 to 12:00 on a festival day. |
Each entry can apply to one centre or to every centre the doctor works at.
How bookable hours are worked out
For each doctor, centre and date, LeapHealthOS works out the bookable time like this:
How a doctor's bookable time for a day is worked out
- 1
Overrides
If an override matches the date, its hours are the doctor's hours for that day. Schedules and blocks are ignored.
Inoverrides that match the dateOutthe day's hoursOn failure: if no override matches, go to the next step
- 2
Schedules
All matching schedules are combined. If none matches, the doctor has no hours that day.
Inschedules that match the dateOutthe doctor's working hours - 3
Blocks
Blocked time is removed. A whole-day block removes the whole day.
Inblocks that match the dateOutthe remaining hours - 4
Centre opening hours
Only the part of the doctor's hours that falls inside the centre's opening hours is kept. If the centre is closed that day, nothing is bookable.
Inthe centre's hours for that weekdayOutbookable hours
The remaining time is divided into slots of the doctor's slot duration. See How slot search works.
What you can edit on screen
The Slot Settings tab of Doctor Configuration edits the doctor's weekly schedule at one clinic.
Open Slot Settings
AdministratorSettings > Clinic & Doctor Setup > Doctor Configuration
Choose the clinic with the clinic switcher, select the Slot Settings tab and choose the doctor in Select Doctor.
Set the slot duration
Under Slot Configuration, choose 15, 30, 45 or 50 mins, or Others to type a duration.
Set each working day
Under Working Hours, tick each day the doctor works at this clinic and set its time ranges. Select Add more time to add another range on the same day, and Remove to delete one. Days when the clinic is closed are greyed out with "This day is not available at the selected centre".
Copy Monday if you want
Apply to Weekdays copies Monday's ranges to Tuesday to Friday and unticks Saturday and Sunday. Apply to All Days copies Monday's ranges to every day.
Save
Select Save.
Expected result: You see "Doctor configuration updated successfully". New slots appear in slot search for the ticked days; days you unticked are no longer bookable.
Rules:
- A doctor cannot work at two centres at the same time. If the hours overlap with the doctor's hours at another centre, the save is refused.
- Keep the time ranges of one day separate from each other.
- Each weekly range is bookable for all the services the doctor offers at that clinic.
- The new hours apply from now on. Appointments already booked are not changed or moved.
Check each day after your first save
For a doctor who was onboarded with the same hours on all seven days, the first save in Slot Settings can keep fewer working days than you ticked. After that first save, choose the doctor again and check that every working day is ticked with the right hours. If a day is missing, tick it, set its hours and save again.
What has no screen yet
Can be edited on screen | Has no screen yet (set up by your implementation team) |
|---|---|
Weekly hours per day at one clinic | Blocks: leave, time off and recurring unavailable time |
Several time ranges per day | Overrides: special hours for a date |
Slot duration | Monthly patterns, such as the first and third Saturday, or the last week of the month |
Patterns for certain months of the year only | |
Exception dates, when a regular schedule or block does not apply | |
Start and end dates for a schedule | |
One schedule that applies at every centre |
'Every other week' schedules repeat every week
A schedule or block can be stored as repeating every second or third week, but slot search does not apply the interval today: it treats the entry as repeating every week. Alternating weeks between two centres, or a block on every other Friday, cannot be set up yet.
Centre holidays are not applied to slot search
There is no screen for centre holidays, and they do not stop bookings today. To close a centre for a day, ask your implementation team to block each doctor's time for that day, or to file emergency leave if patients are already booked. Blocks and emergency leave have no screen in LeapHealthOS yet. See Emergency leave and centre blackouts.
Blocks and existing appointments
A block stops new bookings in the blocked time, but it does not cancel or notify patients who are already booked. When a doctor is suddenly unavailable and patients are booked, ask your implementation team for emergency leave instead, which also handles those appointments. See Emergency leave and centre blackouts.
A block on a day also stops walk-in tokens for that doctor for the whole of that day, even if the block covers only part of the day. See Walk-in tokens.
Working hours of other staff
Nurses, front desk and other staff are not booked by appointment. The working hours you enter for them in the staff onboarding wizards are kept on their profile for reference and do not create bookable slots. See Users and staff onboarding.
Related pages
- Doctor onboarding and configuration
- Centres and clinic configuration for centre opening hours
- How slot search works
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