The slots patients see in Hero are a copy of your EMIS appointment book, refreshed on a schedule. Checking EMIS live every time a patient looked would be slow and hit EMIS's limits. When a patient books, Hero books the slot in EMIS itself. For NHS practices, the patient is only told they're booked once EMIS confirms it. Because the copy is refreshed on a schedule, there's a short gap between a change in EMIS and that change showing in Hero. If a slot was taken in EMIS during that gap, the booking won't go through and the patient is asked to pick another time (see "There's a problem with your chosen appointment").
How it works today:
How far ahead: 90 days from today (today plus the next 89 days).
Which slots: only slot types that are switched on ("active") for your practice. See Active and inactive slots.
How often: Hero sets this automatically from how your practice has used Hero over the last 7 days: booking links and campaigns you create, card payments, and partner apps looking up or booking your slots. Patients booking through an existing link doesn't count on its own. When activity starts, your practice speeds up on its own. You can't see or change this setting.
Your activity in Hero in the last 7 days | How often Hero checks EMIS | When an EMIS change shows in Hero |
|---|---|---|
None: no booking links, campaigns or partner app use | Once a day, around 3am | The next morning |
Some: a few booking links, or occasional partner app use | Every 5 minutes | Within about 5 minutes |
Busy: booking campaigns, card payments, heavy partner app use, or a newly set-up practice | Every minute for the next 4 days, every 5 minutes after that | Within a minute or two for the next 4 days |
If you've just made a change in EMIS (opened a session, unblocked slots, changed a slot type), give it 5 minutes before checking Hero. If your practice hasn't had any of the activity above in the last week, the change will show the next morning.
Check the session is built in EMIS for the date and that the slot type is one Hero syncs for you.
Check the slot is within the next 90 days.
If you need changes to show faster on a regular basis, contact us and explain how you use online booking.
Slots are still missing well after the expected delay.
No slots at all are showing for your practice (this can mean the EMIS connection has dropped, see Reconnecting EMIS).
Your practice was set up recently and slots more than about a month ahead are missing.
Active and inactive slots
Why isn't my EMIS slot type or appointment showing in Hero?
My booking link shows no slots, or a doctor or site is missing
Reconnecting EMIS or fixing a locked EMIS account
