SMS Appointment Reminders for Irish Medical & Dental Practices

Etisia processes personal data under the EU GDPR. Your surgery stays responsible for its own lawful basis, for telling patients how their mobile number is used, and for honouring opt-outs, and the Data Protection Commission's guidance applies to your practice. Keep reminder texts to non-clinical details such as the date and time.

Etisia connects to Google Calendar only. If your practice keeps appointments in Google Calendar or syncs them there, Etisia can send reminders from those events.

Not per patient. The wording is set per calendar, so every reminder from one calendar uses the same text and Etisia fills in the day and time. To word GMS and private appointments differently, keep them in separate calendars, each with its own text.

Etisia processes personal data under the EU GDPR and shares patient data only with the service providers it needs to run the service, such as SMS delivery, as described in its privacy policy. Your surgery stays responsible for its own lawful basis and for honouring opt-outs.

You can write your own reminder text in Irish, English or both, per calendar. Etisia fills in the day and date in English, and accented letters such as á or í make a text use more SMS credits. Etisia does not read language preferences from your EHR.

Etisia sends automatic SMS appointment reminders from your Google Calendar. After a one-time setup, you keep booking in Google Calendar as usual, with the client’s mobile number in the appointment. You don’t open Etisia each time you book.

Your clients get an ordinary text message: no app and no account. Etisia isn’t a booking system, so clients keep booking with you the way they do now.

Probably not, if your booking system already texts your clients. Etisia is for businesses that keep their appointments in Google Calendar, and for those still using pen and paper.

Still using pen and paper? Etisia is an easy first step. Keep your appointments in a free Google Calendar and write the client’s full name in each one, plus their mobile number the first time. That’s all Etisia needs, and your calendar gets tidier for it: every appointment shows who’s coming. The reminders go out in the background, so there’s nothing to open or send each day.

If your booking tool copies appointments into Google Calendar with the client’s mobile number in the event title, description or location, Etisia can send reminders from those events. Switch off the tool’s own text reminders, so clients don’t get two.

There is no direct connection to booking systems: Etisia only reads Google Calendar.

Sign up with email or Google, connect Google Calendar (tick both calendar permissions), pick your appointment calendar, and choose Default settings or set your own times and wording. Tick the box to say you have your clients’ permission, and you’re done.

Default settings send one reminder the day before, with recommended wording that names your business.

Then use Add test appointment: Etisia adds an appointment with your name and number to the calendar and texts you its reminder straight away, free.