How do I stop recalls reaching patients who already have an appointment booked?

Abtrace includes a double-booking exclusion feature, so you can avoid contacting patients who already have a relevant appointment booked. You set this up when creating an automated recall.

How it works

When building a recall, you can exclude patients who already have an appointment booked by:

Member of staff — available for both EMIS and SystmOne.
Slot type — available for EMIS.

SystmOne currently supports exclusion by member of staff only. We're working on adding slot-type exclusion for SystmOne too.

You can also set a time range for the exclusion, so patients are only skipped if their appointment falls within the window you specify — in the last set number of days, or within the next set number of days.

Why use double-booking exclusion

🚫 Avoids unnecessary messages — patients who have already booked won't receive a recall asking them to book again.
😌 Reduces patient confusion — prevents mixed messages that can prompt duplicate bookings or queries to your reception team.
📅 Cuts down on wasted appointments — helps avoid patients booking a second slot they don't need, freeing up capacity for others.
🧑‍💻 Lowers front-desk workload — fewer duplicate bookings and follow-up calls to untangle.
⭐ Improves patient experience — patients only hear from you when they actually need to act, keeping your communications relevant and trusted.