Service counters
Set up service counters such as lab collection desks or pharmacy windows, with their own walk-in queue, daily token limit and "your turn is near" alerts.
A service counter is a physical service point at a centre where patients queue for one service: a sample collection desk, a pharmacy window, an X-ray room or a billing counter. Each counter has its own walk-in queue, separate from doctors' queues. This page is for administrators who set counters up. For issuing and calling tokens, see Walk-in tokens.
Before you begin
The screen is not in the menu
The Service Counters screen is not shown in the sidebar at the moment. Ask your implementation team for the link to open it. The screen works on desktop and laptop screens only.
- The service the counter handles must exist and be active in the Service Catalog. See Service catalog and categories.
- Creating, editing and deleting counters needs the Configure permission on Appointments. Viewing counters needs the Read permission on Appointments. See Roles and permissions.
Creating a counter
Choose the centre
AdministratorOpen the Service Counters screen and pick the centre from Select Centre.
Expected result: The centre's counters are shown as cards, or "No service counters for this centre. Create one to get started."
Start a new counter
Select Add Counter.
Describe the counter
Enter the Counter Name (shown to staff and patients, for example "Sample Collection 1") and a Counter Code (for example LAB-1). Pick the Service the counter handles. Optionally add a Location Description such as "Ground Floor, Near Reception" and a Display Order (0 or more; lower numbers are listed first).
Set up the walk-in queue
Under Walk-In Queue Settings, turn the switch to Enabled if patients can take walk-in tokens for this counter, then fill in the queue settings described below.
Create it
Select Create.
Expected result: "Counter created" appears and the counter is shown as a card.
The counter code must be unique within the centre. If it is already used, the counter is not saved and you see "Counter code already exists at this centre".
Walk-in queue settings
Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Walk-In Queue Settings switch | Enabled: staff can issue walk-in tokens for this counter. Disabled: issuing a token fails with "Walk-in is not enabled for this doctor or counter". |
Daily Limit | The most tokens the counter can issue in a day, counted in the centre's time zone. Leave empty for No limit. If you set it, it must be at least 1. When the limit is reached, new tokens are refused. |
Notification Thresholds | Queue positions at which the patient is told their turn is near, as a comma-separated list such as |
How notification thresholds work
Thresholds are queue positions, not minutes. Each time the queue moves, LeapHealthOS checks every waiting patient's new position. When a patient's position equals one of your thresholds, an "approaching turn" notification is sent to them, through the channels set in your notification rules. See Notification rules.
Example. With thresholds 5, 2, a patient who is 8th in the queue gets a message when they move up to 5th, and another when they reach 2nd.
Pick thresholds that match how long the counter takes
If a counter serves a patient every two minutes, a threshold of 5 gives the patient about ten minutes' notice. Avoid very high thresholds; patients far back in the queue get alerts that are not useful.
Walk-in settings for doctors' queues are set in Doctor Configuration, not here. See Doctor onboarding and configuration.
Editing a counter
Select the edit icon on the card, change the details, then select Update.
You can change the name, location, display order and walk-in settings. You cannot change the Counter Code or the Service after the counter is created. To move a counter to another service, delete it and create a new one.
Deleting (deactivating) a counter
Select the delete icon on the card and confirm "Delete counter …?".
Delete does not erase the counter. It deactivates it:
- The counter stops accepting new walk-in tokens.
- Tokens already in its queue can still be called and served, so you can close a counter without abandoning waiting patients.
- The counter and its past tokens are kept.
Deactivated counters look the same as active ones
After you delete a counter, its card stays on the screen and does not show that it is inactive. There is no button to reactivate it. Note which counters you have deleted. To bring one back, ask your implementation team to reactivate it.
What the card shows
Each counter card shows the name, code, location, whether Walk-In is Enabled or Disabled, the Daily Limit and the Notification Thresholds. The token currently being served is not shown on this screen; see the walk-in queue views described in Walk-in tokens.
Troubleshooting
Related pages
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