Between a cosmetic surgery enquiry and a deposit there should be a fixed, written path: a fast first reply with health questions and consent, the GP referral noted, two consultations with the surgeon, a seven day gap, and only then a deposit. That is the order the system I built for a cosmetic surgery group follows.
It is one practice's order, configured for that practice, and yours may differ. I describe it because the shape is useful: each step exists so that the patient is informed before money changes hands, and so that your team can see where everyone stands.
Why do surgery enquiries need a different path from other treatments?
Because surgery is a larger decision, and the cosmetic surgery guidelines (Ahpra and Medical Board, 2023) are written with that in mind. Our check uses those guidelines for surgery pages, and the wording rules look familiar: no ranking claims, no unrealistic expectations, no inducements, no reviews.
The path is a separate concern from the wording. Wording says what you may publish. The path says what you do with a real person who has written to you. A practice can have clean pages and a loose process, and the second is what the patient actually experiences.
What is the path, step by step?
- 1Enquiry. Answered in seconds, day or night. Health questions and consent come first. Photos arrive by private link, never Instagram DMs.
- 2GP referral noted. Recorded with the enquiry, so your team sees it before the first consultation.
- 3Two consultations. Booked with your surgeon. The history and photos your practitioner asks for are on file before each one.
- 4Seven day cooling-off. A seven day gap, visible on the patient's file, before any deposit is requested.
- 5Deposit. The deposit link goes out in your practice's name once the earlier steps are done.
That text follows the path shown on our cosmetic surgery page. The deposit timing gate is configured for your practice during setup. The rules are yours, and we do not set clinical or legal policy.
Who does what at each step?
The system handles the first reply and the record keeping. People handle everything clinical. The first message is answered by the system in seconds and the enquiry is carried to a booked consultation. Your coordinator and your surgeon take it from there.
- System: first reply, health questions, consent, photo link, recording the referral, showing the cooling-off status, sending the deposit link at the right time
- Coordinator: the human relationship, confirming bookings, answering questions that are not clinical
- Surgeon: every clinical conversation, assessment and decision
It does not give clinical advice and it does not replace your patient coordinator. If it tried to, I would not trust it.
Why a seven day gap?
In the practice I built it for, it is a cooling-off period: a deliberate gap between the second consultation and any request for money. The purpose is that a major decision is not made in the room on the day. Whether you use seven days, a different length, or none is a decision for your practice and your adviser.
What I would insist on is that the gap is visible. When any member of the team opens the file, they should be able to see the date it ends. A cooling-off period that lives in someone's head is not a cooling-off period.
What should a compliance lead be able to see?
- Templates: every template, approved by the practice before it is used
- Activity: every conversation, booking and deposit
- The check: the Ahpra and TGA check on each message, before it sends
Those are the three things our surgery page lists for a compliance lead. The test I would apply to any system, ours included, is whether you can answer a regulator's question about what a patient was told, when, and in whose name. If you cannot, fix that first.
What does a practice still have to decide?
- Whether to require a GP referral and how it is recorded
- How many consultations before a deposit
- How long the gap is, if any
- What the deposit terms are and who approves them
- Who confirms a booking and by when
None of those are technology questions. Write the answers down first, then configure the system to match. We do that with you during setup, but the decisions are the practice's.
What goes wrong when the path is informal?
Three things, in my experience of looking at how enquiries move. A referral is mentioned in a call and never written down, so the surgeon meets the patient without it. A deposit is requested in a chat by whoever happens to be answering. Or a patient is told one thing at the first consultation and a slightly different thing at the second, because nothing links the two records.
None of these is dramatic on its own. Together they are why a written path, enforced by the system and visible on the file, is worth the trouble. It also makes the practice easier to run when a coordinator is away, because the next person can see where each patient stands.
How do you check your own path?
- 1Pick three recent surgery enquiries and trace each from first message to deposit.
- 2Write down the date and person at each step.
- 3Note any step that was skipped, rushed or done in a personal chat.
- 4Compare it with the path you intended.
The gaps you find are your list. Then read how to take a deposit sensibly, run your surgery pages through the Ahpra check, and if you want to see the path run end to end, book a demo.