Queue and wait time screens: tell people how long, and they stop asking
Now serving, roughly how long, and what to do while you wait. A screen that answers the question everybody in the room is thinking, so your front desk can get on with the work that clears the queue.
No credit card required • Cancel anytime • From £10/Screen/month
People do not mind waiting. They mind not knowing
A twenty minute wait you were told about is tolerable. A twenty minute wait with no information feels like an hour and ends in a complaint.
An outpatient clinic runs forty minutes behind because of one complex appointment in the morning. Nobody in the waiting room is told, so the receptionist is asked how long roughly every ninety seconds, which slows her down and makes the delay worse. A dental practice has a full waiting room and a patient who quietly assumes they have been forgotten, gets up and leaves, and the slot is wasted. A restaurant takes walk-ins at the door on a Saturday, quotes "about twenty minutes" to everyone, and half of them go elsewhere because there is nothing to confirm the wait is moving.
What an unmanaged wait actually costs
The same question, every ninety seconds
Every person who asks how long takes your front desk away from the task that would shorten the queue.
People give up and leave
A patient who walks out is a wasted slot. A diner who walks out is a lost cover. Both usually leave because nothing told them the wait was moving.
Silence reads as being ignored
A room with no information invites people to assume the worst, and the complaint that follows is rarely about the wait itself.
The whiteboard nobody updates
A handwritten "running 30 mins late" is right for twenty minutes and wrong for the rest of the day, because updating it means somebody walking over with a pen.
A screen that says what is happening now
Show who or what is being seen now, the rough wait, and the notices people need while they sit. Change the wait from a phone as the day moves, and the room updates without anyone being asked.
Put a screen where people wait
Facing the seating, not behind the desk. Any TV with an HDMI port.
Show now serving and the wait
A number, a name or a room, with a rough wait beside it and whatever you want people to read while they sit.
Update it as the day slips
From a phone, in seconds. Twenty minutes becomes forty and the room finds out without asking.
Ready-made waiting Boards: waiting room, wait time and reception
These are the actual Boards your waiting area can show.
How different places use a wait time screen
Clinics: now serving, and how far behind we are
The room being seen and an honest delay. Patients settle, the desk is interrupted less, and fewer people leave before they are called.
Dental practices: a calm room that knows what is happening
Appointment running, rough wait, and practice information instead of a four year old magazine.
Restaurants: the door queue on a Saturday
Current wait for walk-ins, updated as tables turn, so people decide to stay rather than drift to the place next door.
Council and housing offices: who is next
Ticket number and counter, so a busy room runs without staff calling across it.
Why NowBoard suits a waiting room
Changed from a phone, not from the desk
Whoever notices the clinic is running late can update the screen without leaving what they are doing.
The wait sits beside something worth reading
Practice notices, opening hours, health information or a slideshow rotate alongside it, so the screen earns its place all day.
No patient data on screen
Show a number, an initial or a room. What goes on the screen is text you choose, and it is not connected to a patient record.
It can take over in an emergency
Evacuation or closure replaces the queue on every screen at once, then puts it back.
Several rooms, one account
Each waiting area shows its own queue, all managed from the same login.
From £10 per Screen/month
Less than the cost of one abandoned appointment a month.
Common questions about queue and wait time screens
Does it connect to our patient or booking system?
Not today. The wait and the now-serving line are set by your team from a phone or a laptop. If you want it driven by a system, tell us which one you use.
Is it a ticket-number system?
It can show ticket numbers, but it does not print tickets or dispense them. It shows what you tell it.
Do we have to show patient names?
No, and most do not. A number, an initial or a room name is usually better and avoids putting personal data on a wall.
Can the same screen show other things?
Yes. A Playlist rotates the queue with notices, opening hours or a slideshow, so the screen is useful even when the room is empty.
How often should we update the wait?
Whenever it changes by enough to matter. Most places update it two or three times a session, which is enough to keep the room settled.
Answer the question before it is asked
One screen facing the seating, updated from a phone as the day slips.