Somebody arrives with a scan report from two years ago, a printout from a forum and a question about whether a particular finding means treatment will help.
None of that can be answered in an enquiry, and all of it matters at an appointment. The job of the website is to get the second thing to happen without attempting the first.
The checklist
Publish these and referral questions stop being a barrier.
1. Whether a referral is needed
For private care, stated plainly. Many people assume they must see somebody else first and quietly do nothing for months.
2. Whether insurers require one
Separately, because it is a different answer. Some policies require a referral and some do not, and patients should check with their insurer.
3. What to bring if they have imaging
Reports, discs, correspondence and letters. Bringing it makes the assessment better and costs nothing.
4. That imaging is a clinical decision
Whether a scan is appropriate is judged at assessment. Nothing on a website or in an automated reply should suggest an individual needs one.
5. Whether the clinic can arrange imaging
If it can, how, what it costs and how long results take. Patients want to know the route exists rather than whether they need it.
6. What happens if something needs another professional
That the clinic refers on where appropriate, and to whom. Publishing this is reassuring and it signals competence rather than limitation.
7. How the clinic works with other practitioners
Medical teams, physiotherapists and others, and whether correspondence is shared with consent. Patients under other care want to know it will be joined up.
8. What the assessment covers
History, examination and a discussion of findings, so the patient understands that this is where their question gets answered, which sits with new patient questions before a first adjustment.
9. Never comment on a specific finding
A scan report, a symptom or a diagnosis is not something to address in an enquiry. Capture it, book the assessment and say plainly why.
10. What to do about an old report
That findings change and that imaging from years ago may not reflect the current position. Said generally, without commenting on anybody's own report.
11. Whether treatment can start the same day
Where assessment and treatment happen together and where they do not. Patients travelling with a report want to know before they come.
12. What happens if treatment is not suitable
That the clinic will say so and suggest an alternative. Patients fear being taken on regardless, and saying otherwise builds trust.
13. What a plan would look like afterwards
So the patient can picture the path, which is the ground in treatment plan and frequency questions patients ask and treatment length questions patients ask before starting.
14. Book them rather than answering them
The correct outcome of a referral or scan enquiry is an assessment, which is the mechanism in how chiropractic clinics book new patients with a chatbot.
Getting started
Publish your referral position, what to bring and that imaging is a clinical decision, building the page with the AI FAQ generator, then book at any hour without commenting on anybody's findings. SpideyChat for chiropractic clinics answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about routing on the features page.