Last week I was on the phone with a dentist from Breda, a mid-sized city in the south of the Netherlands. He told me his dental assistant spends an average of ninety minutes a day calling patients to confirm appointments. Ninety minutes. Every single day. That is almost eight hours per week, an entire working day spent on something a computer can do in three seconds.
This is not an exception. Most healthcare practices in the Netherlands still run on a combination of phone calls, paper diaries, and (if they are lucky) an outdated system that was last updated in 2011. The software that does exist often costs 300 to 600 euros per month, locks you into two-year contracts, and honestly only covers half of what you actually need.
There is a better way. And that is exactly why we built NoveuFlow.
The problem: software that was not made for you
Let us be honest: most appointment systems are built for hairdressers and restaurants. That is fine if you are a hairdresser. But as a dentist, you have different needs. You work with treatment plans, not "services". You have patients, not customers. You have a waiting room, not a waitlist. And you need to comply with GDPR in a way that goes far beyond a cookie banner.
GPs have it even more complicated. Consultation hours with changing schedules, repeat prescriptions on fixed cycles, referral letters that need to be linked to the right patient file. Try setting that up in Calendly.
The result: most practices use three or four different systems side by side. One for the calendar, one for patient records, one for billing, and then a paper system for everything in between. That is not efficient. That is surviving.
How NoveuFlow adapts to your industry
The first thing you notice when you launch NoveuFlow as a dental practice: the interface speaks your language. Literally.
Where a garage sees "Customers" and "Services", a dental practice sees "Patients" and "Treatments". A GP sees "Patients" and "Consultations". A physiotherapist sees "Clients" and "Sessions". This is not a cosmetic tweak. It runs through the entire system. The navigation, the forms, the emails sent to patients, the reports: everything is adapted to your field.
That might sound like a small detail, but it makes a huge difference in daily practice. Your assistant does not have to think about what "Service" means in the context of your practice. It simply says "Treatment". Done.
Since version 1.4.0, this goes even further. The navigation is grouped into sections that make logical sense for your industry. Instead of a flat list with 20 menu items, you see headings like MANAGE (patients, treatments, calendar), GROW (marketing, reviews, analytics), and EXTRA (settings, support). It sounds simple, but after a week of using it you will not want to go back.
In practice: NoveuFlow for a dental practice
Picture this: you have a practice with two dentists and a dental hygienist. You do about 40 treatments per day. Check-ups, fillings, root canals, crowns, and the occasional extraction.
Scheduling treatments. In NoveuFlow, you create treatment categories that match your practice. Preventive (check-up, cleaning), Restorative (filling, crown), Endodontics (root canal), Surgery (extraction). Each treatment has its own duration: a check-up takes 20 minutes, a root canal takes 60 minutes. The system knows this and schedules your calendar automatically.
Patients book online. You place the booking widget on your website. The patient selects the treatment, picks an available date and time, and books. No phone call needed. The appointment appears directly in the right dentist's calendar. The patient receives a confirmation email with all practical information: address, what to bring, any preparation required.
Reminders that actually work. 48 hours before the appointment, the patient automatically receives a reminder via SMS or WhatsApp. With one click, the patient can confirm or, if absolutely necessary, reschedule. Our clients see an average of 60% fewer no-shows after activating automatic reminders. With 40 appointments per day, that saves 2 to 3 empty chairs per day. Do the maths on what that means per month.
Patient portal. Every patient gets access to a personal portal. There they can see their upcoming appointments, their treatment history, and any outstanding invoices. They can book a new appointment, reschedule an existing one, or send a message to the practice. This takes enormous pressure off your assistant: she no longer has to pick up the phone for every question.
Six-monthly check-up reminders. Set up an automatic reminder for patients whose last visit was more than 6 months ago. The system sends a personal message: "It is time for your six-monthly check-up. Click here to book an appointment." No manual list-keeping, no forgotten patients.
In practice: NoveuFlow for a GP surgery
A GP surgery works differently from a dental practice. You have consultation hours with fixed blocks, phone consultations in between, and a steady stream of repeat prescriptions and referral letters. NoveuFlow adapts to all of that.
Consultation hour management. Define your consultation blocks per day. Monday morning: 8:00 to 12:00 regular consultations, 13:00 to 14:00 phone consultations. Tuesday afternoon: 14:00 to 17:00 chronic care. The system respects those blocks and only lets patients book into the correct type of slot.
Consultation types. Not every appointment is the same. A standard 10-minute consultation, a double 20-minute consultation for more complex complaints, a 5-minute phone consultation. NoveuFlow knows these types and schedules them correctly. A patient who calls about "something with my knee" is automatically offered a double consultation when the system detects that knee complaints typically take longer.
Repeat prescriptions. Patients on chronic medication can request a repeat prescription through the patient portal. The request lands in the GP's inbox, who can approve or query with one click. No more phone calls saying "I am calling about my pills." The prescription goes digitally to the pharmacy. That saves maybe three minutes per patient, but with 20 repeat prescriptions per day, that is an hour.
Referral letters. When you refer a patient to a specialist, you want proper documentation. In NoveuFlow, you link the referral to the patient's file. You select the specialist, add your notes, and the system generates the letter. The patient automatically receives a copy through the portal.
Waiting room management. On busy mornings, consultations run late. Patients in the waiting room want to know how much longer it will be. With the NoveuFlow dashboard, you can see at a glance how many patients are waiting, how far behind schedule you are, and which consultations are still to come. Your assistant can proactively inform patients: "We are running a bit behind today, it will be about 15 minutes later."
Self-hosted: your data stays on your server
This is perhaps the most important point for healthcare practices. NoveuFlow is a WordPress plugin that runs on your own server. That means:
- All patient data is on your server. Not in an American data centre, not with a third party, but on a server that you control.
- Full GDPR compliance. You are the data controller. No data processing agreement with NoveuFlow is needed, because we do not process your data. It sits with you.
- No vendor lock-in. If you want to stop using NoveuFlow tomorrow, you export your data and move on. You are not tied to a platform that holds your data hostage.
For dentists and GPs who handle medical data, this is crucial. Most cloud-based scheduling systems store patient data in their own infrastructure. That means data processing agreements, DPIAs, and trusting that a startup in San Francisco handles Dutch patient data properly. With NoveuFlow, you do not have that problem.
What does it cost compared to the alternatives?
Let us address the elephant in the room: price.
- Most industry-specific systems for healthcare practices are not cheap:
- Dentiva (dental software): from EUR 249/month, 24-month contract
- Crossuite (dental software): from EUR 199/month, plus EUR 500 setup fee
- Medicom (GP software): pricing on request, but expect EUR 300-400/month
- VIPLive (GP): from EUR 350/month
NoveuFlow starts with a free version, which already includes full booking and calendar functionality. The paid plans add features step by step: the patient portal comes with Starter, SMS and WhatsApp reminders and reports with Pro. What each plan costs is on the pricing page. No setup fees, no contract, cancel monthly.
Put that next to the figures above and the difference is clear. And you get something in return that those systems do not offer: complete control over your data.
Of course, Dentiva has features that NoveuFlow does not (yet) have, such as direct integration with insurance systems. But for 80% of the practices we speak with, the core need is the same: schedule appointments, remind patients, maintain a clear calendar, and not spend a fortune on software.
Industry-adaptive labels: the devil is in the details
Since version 1.4.0, NoveuFlow goes even further with industry adaptations. Not just dentists and GPs, but also:
- Physiotherapists see "Clients", "Sessions", and "Treatment Plans"
- Hairdressers see "Customers", "Treatments", and "Products"
- Garages see "Customers", "Work Orders", and "Vehicles"
The entire interface adapts. And because NoveuFlow is a WordPress plugin, you can even customise the labels further if the defaults do not quite match your way of working.
See it for yourself
We believe you can only judge software after seeing how it works for your own practice. Not in a generic sales presentation, but applied to your appointments, your patients, and your week.
That is why we are happy to schedule a free, personal demo. We show you how NoveuFlow works with your type of treatments, and you ask all the questions you have. At a time that suits you.
No sales pitch. No obligations. Just an honest look at whether it fits.
Want to talk through how NoveuFlow would fit in your practice first? Send an email to support@noveuflow.com or use the support widget in the dashboard. We respond within 24 hours, and we are honest: if NoveuFlow is not the right solution for your situation, we will tell you that too.