Booking messaging for locums

Once a workplace has booked you, there is usually a handful of practical things to sort out before the day: a slightly earlier start, where to park, which entrance to use, who to ask for at reception, what the rooming or billing setup looks like. Booking messaging gives you and the workplace a small, shared conversation that lives on the booking itself, so you can refer back to the thread.

Every message, from either side, is attached to that one booking. You keep a tidy record of what was agreed, the workplace can look back at the same thread while its link is available.

The workplace never has to sign up. A booking confirmation includes a signed link to the workplace view. For an accepted booking request on Plus or Pro, the page offers: Acknowledge booking, Send a message, and Raise dispute. To message you, they choose Send a message, type into the box, and send. That is the whole flow on their side, no password, no portal.

Invoices and bookings have separate signed links, each opening the relevant record. You can read more about how that link works, how long it lasts, and how to withdraw it on the workplace access guide.

When a workplace sends a message, you can find it through the notification or booking thread. You get an in-app notification titled “New message from a workplace” with a short message preview, and the same conversation is reachable from the booking in your requests list. Open it and you are on the messages screen for that booking.

• The notification links straight to the conversation. See your in-app inbox for how that page works.
• You can also open it from an accepted booking in your booking requests list.
• The messages screen shows the whole thread in order: your replies on one side, the workplace on the other, each stamped with the time.

Once the workplace has started the conversation, type into Reply to the workplace and choose Send reply. The saved reply appears in the thread. Sessional attempts to email the workplace when your booking notifications are enabled and the booking link remains available; check the delivery message shown after sending. Replies are plain text, capped at 2,000 characters, the same as theirs.

• It is tied to the booking, not your email. The conversation is threaded behind the scenes, so a workplace replying weeks later still reaches the same place rather than starting a fresh chain.
• You control the link. If you withdraw the workplace’s signed access to a booking, they can no longer message you through that link, but your copy of the conversation stays on your dashboard. The old link no longer opens the booking.
• Cancellation affects workplace messaging. Workplaces cannot send new messages through the link for a cancelled booking. Your dashboard history remains readable. Contact the workplace directly about urgent changes.
• There are sensible limits. Messaging is rate limited on both sides to protect your inbox from being hammered, so a burst of rapid sends may be asked to wait a moment.