Check and Cancel Patient Facing Resources

Our resources are easy to access, download, or print, making it simple to promote Surgery Connect and its features to your patients. Please review the content to ensure it aligns with your intended message and maintains the tone of voice you wish to convey.

If you are a SystmOne practice, the Check and Cancel feature is not yet available. Please adjust the suggested communications accordingly.

Page Contents

Poster

Check and Cancel Poster A4 Download ↓

Introductory information that can be published in your surgery newsletter or in the ‘News’ section of your website containing more detail for your patients to read.

Suggested Newsletter and Website Information

Check and Cancel: A Quick & Easy Way to Manage Your Appointments

We’re excited to introduce a new feature available through our phone system that makes managing your appointments easier than ever – Check and Cancel.

With this simple option, you can now quickly check your upcoming appointments and, if needed, cancel them easily by using the phone system, without the need to speak to a member of the team. This means:

Less time on hold – No need to queue to check or cancel
Fewer missed appointments – A quick check helps you remember your bookings
Better access for all – Helping free up appointments for other patients who need them
24/7 flexibility – Available even outside surgery hours

Simply enter your date of birth on the phone keypad when prompted. If the system matches your details with the number you are calling in on, it will read out your upcoming appointments. You can also cancel an appointment with a key press and receive a confirmation via SMS.

To use this service, just follow the voice prompts when you call the surgery and select the option to check or cancel your appointment. It’s a fast and easy way to stay on top of your healthcare needs!

We have pre and post-launch examples of text and images that you can use to promote the new service to your patients.

Suggested Pre-Launch Social Media Template

Pre-Launch

Coming Soon – A Faster Way to Manage Your Appointments!

Exciting news! We’re introducing Check and Cancel, a brand-new phone system feature that makes managing your appointments easier than ever.

✅ Check your upcoming appointments anytime
✅ Cancel in seconds – no need to wait on hold
✅ 24/7 access – Even outside surgery hours

Launching soon! Watch out for updates. 👀

Suggested Post-Launch Social Media Template

Post-Launch

Post-Launch: Check & Cancel is LIVE!

Managing your appointments just got easier! Check and Cancel is now available through our phone system.

✅ No waiting on hold – Check or cancel appointments in seconds!
✅ 24/7 access – Manage your bookings anytime
✅ Better access for all – Free up appointments for others

Simply call the surgery, follow the voice prompts, and stay in control of your healthcare. Try it today!

Comms Check and Cancel Pre-Launch (2560×2146)Download ↓

Comms Check and Cancel Post-Launch (2560×2146)Download ↓

Digital Display Templates

We have pre and post-launch examples of resources that you can display in reception and waiting room areas to promote the new service to your patients.

Patient Facing Comms Check and Cancel TV Download ↓

Email Templates

Example wording that can be used in an email to help you explain to your patients what Check and Cancel is.

Suggested Pre-Launch Email Template

Pre-Launch

Subject: Exciting News! A New Way to Manage Your Appointments

Dear [Patient’s Name],

We’re introducing a brand-new feature to make managing your appointments easier than ever! Check and Cancel will soon be available through our phone system, giving you more flexibility and control.

With this new service, you’ll be able to:

✅ Check your upcoming appointments anytime – no need to call reception
✅ Cancel an appointment instantly if you can’t attend
✅ Access this service 24/7 – even outside surgery hours

Stay tuned for more details!

[Your GP Surgery Name]

Post-Launch

Subject: NEW! Manage Your Appointments Easily by Phone

Dear [Patient’s Name],

Great news! You can now manage your appointments quickly and easily with our new Check and Cancel feature.

✅ No waiting on hold – Check or cancel appointments in seconds
✅ Available 24/7 – Even outside surgery hours
✅ Better access for all – Free up appointments for others

To use the service, simply call the surgery, follow the voice prompts, and enter your date of birth when prompted. If needed, you can cancel with a key press and receive an SMS confirmation.

Try it today and take control of your healthcare with ease!

[Your GP Surgery Name]

SMS Templates

Example SMS messages you could send to your patients to help explain to your patients what Check and Cancel is.

Suggested Pre-Launch SMS Template

Pre-Launch

Coming soon! We’re launching Check and Cancel, a quick & easy way to manage your appointments by phone, no need to wait on hold! Stay tuned.

Post-Launch

Check & Cancel is now LIVE! Easily check or cancel your appointments anytime using our phone system, no queue, no hassle! Call the surgery to try it now.

Callout Name and Example	Callout Description
Info:	Used to highlight specific aspects of a feature that were previously mentioned, or to clarify less obvious feature applications.
Funding / PCARP / NHS:	Calls out the direct benefits of Surgery Connect features and how they can help you meet the NHS Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care requirements and ultimately, the associated funding.
Definitions:	When clicked, provides a glossary of terms and their definitions within a popout table.
Help:	Links to external Help Centre pages related to the content of a lesson, providing further learning resources.

Report Column Name	Explanation
Hour/Day	The report can be by hour, or by day
Calls When Patient Callback Active	Patient Callback only becomes active when your parameters are met - this tells you how many calls you received overall when those parameters were met
Calls Handled by Patient Callback	Patient Callbacks requested (in that hour/day)
Callbacks Made	Patient Callbacks made (in that hour/day)
Callbacks Accepted	Successful callbacks (in that hour/day)
Callbacks Rejected	Callback rejected
Callback Attempts Exceeded	Calllback where the attempts were exceeded - not answered
Queue Timeout	Where any max queue duration settings are met
Callback Reset	Callback cancelled due to closure times
Caller Rang Back In	Caller rang back in before callback attempted
Caller Rang Back in - Rejoined Queue	Caller rang back in before callback attempted and re-joined the queue
Caller Rang Back in - Hung Up	Caller rang back in before callback attempted and hung up (stayed in callback queue)
Caller Rang Back in - Cancelled	Caller rang back in before callback attempted and cancelled the callback request
Total time in virtual queue	Total time all calls in that hour/day were in the virtual queue
Avg time in virtual queue	Average time each call in that hour/day was in the virtual queue
Total Time in real queue	If someone rings back in and rejoins the “real” queue this would be reflected here.
Avg time in real queue	If someone rings back in and rejoins the “real” queue this would be reflected here.

Inbound call	An inbound call is a call made into the surgery on one of your inbound telephone numbers
Outbound call	An outbound call is a call made from the surgery’s service (external calls only)
Queued call	A queued call are those that joined a Group queue and started the queueing process to speak to one of your staff
Missed call	Missed calls are calls that could have been answered by a staff member because it either targeted a user directly or joined a queue for a distribution group. A call does not have to make it to the front of a queue to count as missed, it purely has to join the queue
Abandoned call	Abandoned calls are calls that your staff had no chance of answering as they either did not target a user directly or did not enter a queue for a group of users. Situations where this could be the case are when the caller rings in whilst the practice is closed, or the caller does not respond to a menu and hangs up before making a choice
CLI	The CLI is the number displayed in the call ID to the recipient of that call This may be withheld or a telephone number. It also relates to the callers number when they ring into the Surgery Connect service.
Average call duration	This is an average length of a call - Active time on an answered call - this does not include any queue time
Total call duration	This is the actual length of a call including all of the call flow, queueing, talk or hold time that may have occurred
Maximum call concurrency	This is how many individual calls are happening at the same time

Queued for group	The total number of calls that queued for that group
Answered from queue	The number of calls in the queue that were answered
% answered from queue	The percentage of calls answered from the queue
Missed from queue	This is the total number of calls that joined the queue but did not get answered
% missed from queue	The percentage of calls missed from the queue
Missed from queue under 10 seconds	These are the calls that joined the queue but the caller hung up before 10 seconds of queueing had occurred. These may not want to be considered when assessing call answering efficiency as there was little chance of your staff answering these calls due to the caller hanging up so quickly
Queue duration	The length of time the caller spent in the queue

Calls when patient callback active	This is the total number of inbound calls whilst patient callback was offered
Calls handled by patient callback	This is the number of calls that chose the patient callback option
Callbacks made	This is the number of callback calls made
Callbacks accepted	This is the number of callback calls that were answered and accepted by the patients
Callbacks rejected	This is the number of callback calls that were unanswered or cancelled by the patients
Queue timeout	This is where a maximum queue time has been set on the service and the time in that queue is reached
Caller rang back in	This is where a caller has selected a callback but has rung in and rejoined the queue before they have received a callback from the surgery
Caller rang back in - rejoined queue	This where a caller has selected a callback but has rung in and rejoined the queue before they have received a callback from the surgery
Caller rang back in - hung up	This is where a caller has called in again and hung up
Caller rang back in - cancelled	This is where a caller has a callback booked but has rung in and cancelled that callback when given the option
Time in virtual queue	This is the amount of time the callers would have spent in the queue if they had not selected a callback