Skip to main content

Queues & waiting boards

What it does​

Queues track who is waiting and who is being served, for example a check-in line or a service point. A waiting board is a public-facing display of the current queue for people in the waiting area.

Where to find it​

Choose Queues from the navigation (/queues). Open a queue to manage it. A waiting board is shown on its own screen (/waiting-board/…), typically on a display in the waiting area.

📸 Screenshot: an open queue (queue-detail).

Common tasks​

Open, pause or close a queue​

The queue's status sits under its name on the detail screen. Open accepts new entries, Paused stops new ones while the desk works through those already waiting, and Closed retires the queue without losing its history. New entries are refused while a queue is not open, and the screen says so before you try.

Add someone to a queue​

Open the queue, choose Add an entry, and give the subject type and id. They join the line at the priority you set (0 routine, 10 urgent, 20 emergency; higher is served first).

Call and serve​

Select an entry and choose the status you want: the buttons are the states the entry can actually move to, so a completed entry offers none and says why rather than failing on the click. Every change is written to the entry's status history, shown in the same panel.

Assign and release​

The Assignments panel lists who is working an entry and lets you add or release one. Releasing does not delete the record; it closes it, so the trail of who held the entry stays intact.

Move or reprioritise​

Change Priority to reorder an entry within its queue, or Move to another queue to send it elsewhere, for example from triage to a consulting room. Only open queues are offered as targets, because a paused or closed one would refuse the entry.

Remove an entry​

Remove from queue takes an entry off the line. It is recorded, not erased.

Knowing that somebody is waiting​

When a patient reaches a stage bound to your queue, everyone holding a role on that stage gets a notification in the bell, and it links straight to the queue. The staff queue screen also refreshes itself every 15 seconds, so a patient added by reception appears without you clicking anything.

A stage with nobody assigned to it notifies nobody. If your team is not being told, check that the journey's stage has a role assigned to it.

Show a waiting board​

A queue needs a waiting board before it can have a public display; create one from the Waiting boards panel on the queue. Details shows a board's configuration and how many entries are on it right now, and Open display opens the public screen (/waiting-board/…) for a screen in the waiting area.

Tips & limitations​

  • Waiting boards are designed to avoid showing sensitive information. The label on each row is composed by the server under the board's own setting, so the browser is never sent a name the board is not meant to show.
  • The queue list's Waiting board column says whether a board exists over that queue. It is not a switch: a queue has a board once somebody creates one over it.
  • A person can be in more than one queue (for different service points) at the same time.

When something looks wrong​

What you seeWhat it usually is
A patient is booked but not on the boardBooking is not checking in; they are separate acts
Checked in, but on no boardThe journey's steps are not bound to queues
A queue is empty on one screen and not anotherBoards are per facility and per unit
An entry cannot be addedThe queue is paused or closed; reopen it first
A queue shows no boardNone has been created over it yet; use the waiting boards panel

For the causes common to every screen (a missing menu item, an empty list, a refusal) see Why a screen will not work.