Orthodontic Waiting List Management Software

No. Virtual Consultant Online does not have a separate waiting list screen or automatic list ordering. Practices use its patient records, statuses, journey stages and team tasks to manage waiting patients instead: each patient sits in one record with a named owner, the next action has a due date, and overdue actions are visible to the manager. For many practices this replaces a spreadsheet without adding another system, but practices that need a formal, rules-based NHS waiting list should keep that in their clinical or contract system.

Not automatically. Virtual Consultant Online does not store an IOTN field or sort patients by clinical need, so IOTN-based prioritisation should stay in the clinical record or NHS contract system where the assessment is documented. What the platform can help with is the contact side of prioritisation: once the clinical team has decided who is next, the coordinator can assign a task, invite the patient to a remote photo re-assessment and record every contact against the patient, so the handoff from decision to booked appointment is visible.

Use the patient import. Export your current list to CSV, map the columns in the import screen, and run the import. The system validates the whole file before writing any records, so a bad row does not leave you with a half-imported list, and each imported patient gets an audit entry showing they were created by import. Once patients are in, assign owners and follow-up tasks in batches, starting with the patients closest to the top of your list, and archive the spreadsheet so there is only one version of the truth.

Set a recurring task on each waiting patient, or on groups of patients, so a named team member is prompted to check in at the interval you choose, such as every three or six months. The contact is logged on the patient record, so anyone can see when the patient was last reached and what they said. When treatment is close, send a guided photo request so the orthodontist can confirm the case is still suitable before a chair appointment is committed. This keeps the list current and surfaces patients who have changed their mind early.

Waiting list records are personal health data under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Practices need a lawful basis for holding the data, must tell patients how it will be used and how long it will be kept, and should restrict access to the staff who need it. Keeping waiting patients in one access-controlled system is usually safer than copies of a spreadsheet on shared drives. Before importing a list into any software, confirm where data is stored, that a data processing agreement is in place, and how records can be exported or deleted.

Yes. Multi-site practices can hold patient records and tasks for several locations in Virtual Consultant Online, with managers able to see outstanding actions across sites and coordinators working on the patients assigned to them. This helps when a patient waiting at one site could be offered an earlier start at another, because the record, contact history and photos travel with the patient. Formal NHS contract capacity and list ordering should still be managed in the system the contract requires.

Most practices can import a list and start working it within a week or two. The usual steps are cleaning the spreadsheet so names and contact details are consistent, running the CSV import, agreeing who owns which patients, setting recurring check-in tasks, and deciding at what point a waiting patient is sent a remote photo request. Starting with one list or one site before expanding lets the team settle into the routine and gives managers a clear before-and-after picture of how many patients have been contacted.