1. It reads your appointment book
Running Late keeps a copy of the day’s bookings from your online booking system, such as Acuity Scheduling. Nobody types them in twice.
For dental practices
How can a dental practice tell patients when the dentist is running late?
Send each patient a WhatsApp before they sit down to wait. With Running Late, reception taps “Add delay” under the dentist who is behind. Every patient booked after that point gets a message from the practice’s own WhatsApp number, with their name and their new time. A few taps instead of a round of phone calls.
Cape Town, South AfricaRunning Late · a lewkAi tool
The problem
The dentist is behind. The waiting room fills up. Nobody has told the patients.
Reception knows the day is running late. The patients don’t, until they arrive and wait. Phoning everyone takes time reception doesn’t have.
Try it
Try the reception screen.
This is the screen reception would use. Tap “+ Add delay” under a dentist, choose how late and from which appointment, check who gets the message, then tap Send. Use the clock buttons to move the day on.
Demo. Patients, dentists and times are made up. Nothing is really sent: the ticks fake what WhatsApp would show.
Oakview Dental · Reception
Running Late
Today · 10:40
Dr A. Smit
Dentist- 08:30Lindiwe DubedoneCheck-up · 30 min
- 09:00Pieter van WykdoneFilling · 40 min
- 09:45Megan BothadoneCheck-up · 30 min
- 10:20Johan Erasmusin chairRoot canal · 60 min
- 11:20Ayesha KhanCheck-up · 30 min
- 11:50Kyle JacobsWhitening (40 min) · 40 min
- 12:30Grace MokoenaScale & polish · 30 min
- 13:00Sipho Ndlovuno mobileCheck-up · 30 min
Dr R. Naidoo
Dentist- 08:30Anna BrinkdoneCrown fit · 60 min
- 09:30Nomsa MahlangudoneCheck-up · 30 min
- 10:00Marco DanielsdoneFilling · 40 min
- 10:45Zanele PillayCheck-up · 30 min
- 11:15Bianca FourieWhitening (40 min) · 40 min
- 12:00Lerato NkosiCheck-up · 30 min
- 12:30Ruan SteynScale & polish · 30 min
Hygienist
Scale & polish- 08:30Nadia HendricksdoneScale & polish · 30 min
- 09:00Tumi SitholedoneScale & polish · 30 min
- 10:00Chloe AdamsdoneScale & polish · 30 min
- 10:30Werner Louwin chairScale & polish · 30 min
- 11:00Precious ZuluScale & polish · 30 min
- 11:30Ethan PretoriusScale & polish · 30 min
Sent today
No delay messages yet. Tap “Add delay” under a dentist who is running behind.
How it works
Three steps, all at the front desk.
2. Reception adds the delay
Tap “+ Add delay” under the dentist, pick 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes and the appointment it starts from. Check who will get the message.
3. Patients get a WhatsApp
Each patient gets their own name and new time from your practice’s WhatsApp number. Replies come to your normal WhatsApp.
What a patient sees
Hi Anna, this is Oakview Dental. Dr Smit is running about 30 minutes late today. Your 11:00 appointment should start at about 11:30. Sorry for the wait! Reply here if you need to reschedule.
Oakview Dental, its dentists and its patients are made up.
The small things
It handles the awkward parts of a late day.
Back on time
If the dentist catches up, one tap tells the same patients to come at their normal time.
One update, not a pile
If the delay grows, patients get one updated message, not a string of them.
Seen patients are skipped
Anyone already in the chair or finished gets nothing.
No mobile? Phone them
Patients with no mobile number on file are flagged, so reception knows to call.
Ticks you can see
Sent, delivered and read, for every patient.
A record of the day
A log of who was told what, and when.
Nothing goes out on its own. Reception chooses the delay and checks the list before anything is sent.
What it needs
Two things most practices already have, or can set up.
An online booking system
One that lets other tools read the diary, such as Acuity Scheduling on its Premium plan.
WhatsApp Business
Messages go through Meta’s official WhatsApp Business service, from your practice’s own number. Meta approves the message wording first.
The same idea can work for any practice that runs on appointments.
Where it stands
A working demo, ready to fit to your practice.
Running Late is at demo stage. It isn’t live at any practice yet. If you’d like it for yours, we start by mapping how your day really runs, then build it into the systems you already use.
See how we work →Start here
Give your people their time back.
- What you get
- Your process map, the cost, a fixed build quote
- Price
- Fixed fee, agreed upfront
- If you go ahead
- Fee credited to your build