Physios, pods, osteos, chiros, aesthetics — Cliniko holds the records, diaries, notes, and billing together nicely. What it can't do is answer the phone at 9pm. And 85%+ of patient messages — bookings, " Thursday free?", "how much for first podiatry?", cancellations — arrive on WhatsApp while practitioners are behind closed doors mid-treatment. Three-hour reply gaps bleed £15–35k a year in lost consults and empty rooms. Link Cliniko to WhatsApp through Susan and intake, reminders, forms, deposits, and waitlists run in chat with zero disruption to clinical time.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Greeting, pricing answers, and slot-locking happen in live Cliniko diaries — 24/7, no staff involved. One-way SMS becomes two-way WhatsApp: confirm, move, or ask, all answered. Deposits clear over Stripe before slots lock, killing ghost bookings. Intake forms and directions arrive a day early, automatically. And cancellations re-sell to the waitlist inside five minutes.
Manual handling fails four predictable ways. Web portals demand logins and six-step forms on phones — most patients abandon past 60%. Treatment blocks mean unread messages for hours while leads cool. Undeposited bookings no-show 15–20%, each missed 45 minutes worth £60–£120 gone. And two-fifths of messages land evenings and weekends, straight onto closed desks and dead inboxes.
Five minutes, no code:
Manual chat versus web portal versus chat-run: replies took two to five hours around shifts, or instant-but-empty forms — now seconds, conversational, always. Completion ran low on back-and-forth, or 35–40% through drop-off — now 85%+ in chat. Reminders were hand-typed, or one-way SMS graveyards — now interactive two-way WhatsApp. Deposits were transfers and invoices, or portal-only — now one tap in chat. Interruptions buzzed mid-treatment, or portals asked nothing — now zero, intake fully automatic. Forms were emailed attachments, or generic links — now WhatsApp questionnaires ahead of every visit. Cancellations meant phone round-robins, or nothing — now waitlist broadcast, refilled inside five minutes. No-shows ran 15–20% or 10–14% — now under 2% with deposits and two-way reminders.
As a receptionist it covers the full arc. Live diary dispatch across rooms and practitioners — checked, double-booking-proofed, booked direct. Reminders at 48 and 2 hours — confirm or "push to 4pm?", Cliniko updated instantly either way. Deposits — secure links, slots held only on cleared payment. Cancellations — "3pm physio with David opened today, reply YES" — chairs refilled before gaps register. Aftercare — exercise PDFs at two hours, review ask at twenty-four, reputation compounding weekly.
Related: physio reminders, recall automation, clinic deposits, Pabau over WhatsApp — clinics, salons, plumbers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Medical data over chat — compliant?
Strictly consent-first, encrypted at rest and in transit, isolated per practice. Anything clinical travels by secure portal link, never raw chat.
Bookings and availability — truly live?
Direct API: live diaries, no double-booking, appointments created instantly. What the patient sees is what the diary holds.
Deposits in chat?
Stripe links: Apple Pay, Google Pay, card. Appointment confirms on verified payment, not before.
The genuinely clinical question?
Practitioner territory, always. Patient gets honesty plus a handoff; staff get pinged on WhatsApp with everything attached.