Result
61%
fewer empty slots each week
By the time I unlock the front door, the 9:15 that cancelled overnight already has someone new in it.
Aisha Coleman, practice manager
The problem: gaps that appeared too late to fill
Pellam Street runs two GPs, a physiotherapist and a practice nurse from one converted terrace. Most weeks, eight to twelve appointments were cancelled after 6pm the night before, usually by patients who could not get through on the phone at 8am.
Reception would spend the first hour of Monday calling round a paper list. By the time they reached someone, the slot had often passed.
What changed
The practice moved online booking, reminders and the waitlist into Quellow in the same week. Every reminder text now carries a one-word reply. When a patient replies CANCEL, the slot is offered by text to the first matching patient on the waitlist, in the order they joined.
The numbers after twelve weeks
Empty slots fell from an average of 31 a week to 12. Monday phone calls before 9am fell by about a third, because patients who wanted an earlier appointment were already on the waitlist.