> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Book and manage appointments

> Request a time with your clinic, confirm it, reschedule or cancel it, and pay for a visit from your patient portal.

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['portal']} />

**Appointments** in your patient portal shows everything you have booked, lets you ask for a new time, and lets you confirm, move or cancel a visit without ringing the clinic. Select **Appointments** in the list on the left of the portal.

All times are shown in **your own time zone**, so a visit booked while you are travelling still reads correctly when you get home.

## What you see

Two tabs, **Upcoming** and **Past**, a search box, and a filter for the status of a visit. Each appointment shows a coloured label:

| Label         | What it means                                       |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| **Scheduled** | Booked, but you have not confirmed it yet           |
| **Confirmed** | You have confirmed you are coming                   |
| **Pending**   | The clinic is still reviewing your request          |
| **Completed** | The visit has happened                              |
| **Cancelled** | The visit is off                                    |
| **No Show**   | The clinic recorded that the appointment was missed |

## Book an appointment

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select Book">
    The **Book** button sits at the top of the Appointments page. It opens a panel headed **Book an appointment** — "Choose a service, pick a time, and fill in the details."

    If there is no **Book** button, your clinic does not take bookings through the portal. Ring them instead.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the service">
    Pick what you are coming in for under **Service**, then answer **How would you like to attend?** — in person or by video, where your clinic offers both.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a date and time">
    Choose a **Date**, then pick one of the **Available times**. Only times the clinic can actually take are offered.

    Clinics set how far ahead you may book (often about three months) and how much notice they need. If a day shows nothing, it is either full or outside that window.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill in the details">
    Your clinic may ask a few short questions here. Add anything else useful under **Notes (optional)** — for example that you need a ground-floor room or an interpreter.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm the booking">
    Select the button at the bottom that names your chosen time. You see **You're booked**.

    If there is something to pay, you are offered **Pay later** or a button naming the amount. Otherwise select **Done**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Some clinics take payment before the booking is made. In that case the appointment only exists once the payment goes through. If you close the payment page you will see "Payment cancelled — No appointment was booked." — nothing has been charged and nothing has been booked, so start again.
</Note>

If someone else takes the slot while you are filling in the form, you see "That time was taken". Pick another time; nothing has been booked and nothing has been charged.

## Confirm you are coming

Open an appointment and select **Confirm**. You see "Appointment confirmed — You'll get reminders before your visit."

Confirming is worth doing. It tells the clinic you are coming, and it is what makes you eligible for reminder emails before the visit.

## Reschedule or cancel

Each appointment row has the actions you are allowed to take on it:

* **Details** — the full booking, including where to go
* **Reschedule** — pick a different date and time
* **Cancel** — opens **Cancel this appointment?** You can add an optional **Reason**, then select **Cancel appointment**, or **Keep appointment** to back out
* **Join Call** — for a video visit, see [Join a video visit](/portal/patients/telehealth)
* A button naming an amount — pay for the visit

If you have already paid, the cancellation screen tells you when your payment has been refunded.

<Warning>
  Clinics set a cut-off for changes — commonly 24 hours before the appointment. Once that cut-off passes, **Reschedule** and **Cancel** disappear from the row. They have not broken; you are simply now inside the notice period. Ring the clinic to change a visit at short notice, and do it as early as you can so the slot can go to someone else.
</Warning>

Some clinics do not allow changes through the portal at all. If you never see those buttons, the practice handles changes by phone.

## Pay for a visit

Where your clinic takes payment online, an appointment that has money owing shows a button with the amount on it. Select it and pay by card.

Below the list of appointments you may also see **Payment methods** — "Save a card to pay for appointments faster." Select **Add card** to store a card, or the bin icon to remove one. Your card details are held securely by our payment processor, Stripe, and are never stored by the clinic or by us.

If your clinic does not take payments online, this section does not appear and you pay at the desk as usual.

## Check it worked

Your new or changed appointment appears at the top of the **Upcoming** tab with the right date, time and label. The list updates on its own — you do not need to reload the page.

## Good to know

* **The list refreshes itself.** If a member of staff moves your appointment while you are looking at the page, it changes in front of you.
* **A request is not always a confirmed booking.** If your appointment shows **Pending**, the clinic is still reviewing it and will come back to you.
* **Reminders come by email.** The portal does not send text messages.

Trouble with any of this? See [Portal problems and how to fix them](/portal/patients/troubleshooting).