Appointment statuses from pending to completed, and what "At reception" means
Know what each of the six appointment statuses says about where the patient is, who moves an appointment from one to the next, and what a cancellation or no-show does behind the scenes — with the manual's names and the Calendar's names side by side, because they are not quite the same words.
The six statuses, in order
Statuses run one way. The manual describes the pipeline as:
pending → confirmed → arrived → in progress → at reception → completed
The Calendar's legend counts the same day as Booked → Confirmed → Arrived → In consult → At reception → Done, with Cancelled and No show beside them. Same steps, front-desk words.
| On the Calendar | The manual calls it | What it tells the desk | Who usually sets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booked | pending | Booked but not yet confirmed. Portal requests arrive under Bookings to be confirmed, declined or rescheduled (KB-040 — Set up rosters, leave and online-bookable appointment types, and handle online booking requests). | Reception |
| Confirmed | confirmed | The booking stands. | Reception |
| Arrived | arrived | The patient has checked in and is in the waiting room. Mark it from the Calendar. | Reception |
| In consult | in progress | The clinician has started the consult. | Clinician |
| At reception | at reception | The consult has finished; the patient is back at the desk to pay and rebook. | Set when the clinician finishes |
| Done | completed | Done. A recall the appointment was answering closes here (KB-051 — Run recalls: book from a recall, and why a recall stays open or comes back). | Reception |
The Today screen counts appointments remaining and open consults, and reception's dashboard shows the day by appointment state — the statuses are what those numbers are built from.
What "At reception" is for
"At reception" is the gap between the clinician finishing and the patient paying and rebooking. It exists so the front desk can see who is standing in front of them: a patient at the counter with At reception against their name has just come out of a consult and needs an invoice and, often, a rebooking.
Tip: The appointment's own history records the patient being taken in and sent to reception between Arrived and Done, with who did it — so "who saw them, and when?" is answered there.
Cancellations and no-shows
Cancelling an appointment or marking a no-show does two things behind the scenes:
- Any recall the appointment was answering goes back to the recalls worklist, so somebody rebooks it (KB-051 — Run recalls: book from a recall, and why a recall stays open or comes back).
- A reminder that has not yet been sent for that appointment is withdrawn.
If your practice has turned them on in Settings → Patient messaging, a cancellation, a no-show and a completed visit can each send the patient a message (KB-122 — Set up Settings → Patient messaging: email, SMS and WhatsApp channels, DKIM, the bounce mailbox and message wording). All three are off unless ticked.
Clearing a whole day for a practitioner who has called in sick is a Utilities task, not one cancellation at a time (KB-039 — Clear a practitioner's day when they call in sick).
Important: Utilities never cancels a patient already in the waiting room — they are listed so the desk can speak to them.
An appointment left open after the day
When a patient is recorded as departed or deceased, their future appointments are cancelled with the reason, but an appointment whose time has already passed is left as it was. Close it from the Calendar with what happened — seen, or did not come (KB-041 — Find a departed patient, reactivate them, or record a death or departure).
Where the manual is silent
The manual does not say how an appointment moves from Booked to Confirmed when booked at the desk, whether a status can move backwards, or how a walk-in is added. Booking and the time grid are in KB-038 — Book, reschedule and track appointments in the Calendar. If your practice needs the missing steps written down, raise a ticket.
Still stuck? Raise a ticket at support.curaeon.com.au or call 1300 XXX XXX. If your clinic can't see patients right now, call and choose option 1. Support is staffed Monday to Friday, 8:00–18:00 Sydney time; outside those hours a call or text to the same number is answered on a best-effort basis.
Related articles
- KB-122 — Set up Settings → Patient messaging: email, SMS and WhatsApp channels, DKIM, the bounce mailbox and message wording — Set up Settings → Patient messaging: email, SMS and WhatsApp channels, DKIM, the bounce mailbox and message wording
- KB-038 — Book, reschedule and track appointments in the Calendar — Book, reschedule and track appointments in the Calendar
- KB-039 — Clear a practitioner's day when they call in sick — Clear a practitioner's day when they call in sick
- KB-051 — Run recalls: book from a recall, and why a recall stays open or comes back — Run recalls: book from a recall, and why a recall stays open or comes back