TL;DR: Reception at a private or aesthetic clinic answers the same questions every day: price ranges, downtime, what to bring, whether a treatment hurts. Write each answer once, have the doctor approve it, and store it where reception, the website and the booking chat all use the same text. Mark clearly which questions reception never answers, because anything about a patient's own condition goes to a consultation.
It is 11:20 and reception has answered "how long does the swelling last after lip filler?" four times today: once on the phone, twice on Instagram and once at the desk. The answers were "a few days", "about a week", "it depends" and "ask the doctor". All four came from the same clinic, and none of them was written down.
Inconsistent answers are not just untidy. A patient who hears "a few days" and then has a week of swelling feels misled, and a patient who gets a different answer on the phone and on the website starts to wonder what else is improvised. This article gives a patient FAQ template for a clinic reception desk, with a filled example. It is part of our aesthetic clinic marketing guide.
Which questions does a clinic reception desk answer every day?
They fall into five groups: price, time and downtime, preparation, practical details such as parking and payment, and safety questions about who performs the treatment. Collect them for two weeks before you write anything. A simple tally at the desk shows which ten questions cover most of the calls and messages.
A two-week tally sheet needs three columns: the question in the patient's words, the channel (phone, desk, Instagram, email, website chat) and a tick for every repeat. The patient's own wording matters, because that is also how they type the question into a search engine.
Typical groups and examples:
| Group | Questions in the patient's words |
|---|---|
| Price | "How much is a skin booster?" "Is the consultation free?" |
| Time and downtime | "How long does it take?" "Can I go back to work the same day?" |
| Preparation | "Can I wear make-up?" "Should I stop my creams before a peel?" |
| Practical | "Is there parking?" "Can I pay by card?" "Can I bring a friend?" |
| Safety | "Who does the injections?" "Is the doctor registered?" |
How do you write an answer once so everyone says the same thing?
Give every answer the same five parts: the short answer, the limit or condition, the next step for the patient, who approved it, and the date of the last check. Keep the short answer under 40 words so it works on the phone and in a chat. The limit is what stops a general answer becoming a promise.
The five parts, in order:
- Short answer: what reception says first, in plain words.
- Limit: when the answer does not apply, or varies.
- Next step: booking link, aftercare sheet or consultation.
- Approved by: the doctor for anything medical, the manager for the rest.
- Last checked: a date, reviewed at least every six months.
AI is useful here as a drafting tool. Give it the doctor's notes for one treatment and ask for an answer in the five-part format, under 40 words for the short answer, with no promises about results. The doctor then corrects the draft. The checked version, not the AI draft, goes into the template.
Which questions must reception never answer?
Anything about a particular patient's own face, body, health or suitability for a treatment. Reception can explain what a treatment involves in general and book a consultation. It cannot say whether something will work for this person, interpret a photo or comment on a medical history. Mark those questions in the template as consultation only.
The American Med Spa Association suggests AI and front-desk scripts for questions about services, price ranges and hours, and is clear that AI must not diagnose or give medical advice (AmSpa). The same line applies to people at the desk.
Responsibility stays with the doctor. Hungary's doctors' ethics code, in its version in force from November 2025, says that accepting suggestions from artificial intelligence does not release the doctor from personal responsibility for their decisions (ETT, Orvosetikai Kódex). Whether an answer was drafted by AI or by reception, the doctor who approved it answers for it.
Some safety questions deserve a fixed, sourced answer. If a patient asks whether they can buy filler online and bring it in, the answer is no, and the US FDA tells patients not to buy dermal fillers online and to go to a licensed provider (FDA).
Questions marked "consultation only": "Will this work for me?", "Can you look at this photo?", "I take medication, is that a problem?", "I had a reaction last time, what should I do?" The last one is not a booking question at all: it goes to the doctor the same day.
What does the patient FAQ template look like?
One entry per question, each with the five parts, grouped by the five question groups. Keep it to one page per group so reception can find an answer while a patient is on the phone. The same entries feed the website FAQ, the booking chat and the treatment pages, so a change is made once.
The template for one entry:
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| Question (patient's words) | |
| Short answer (under 40 words) | |
| Limit | |
| Next step | |
| Consultation only? | Yes / No |
| Approved by, date |
Example (illustrative, not a real case): reception answers the same ten questions daily, about price ranges, downtime and hours. The clinic drafts the FAQ with AI for the website and the booking chat, the doctor approves every answer, and anything about a person's own condition goes to a consultation. Two of the ten filled entries:
| Field | Entry 1 | Entry 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Question | "How long does swelling last after lip filler?" | "Can I go back to work after a chemical peel?" |
| Short answer | "Most people have some swelling for a few days; the doctor explains what to expect for you at the consultation." | "It depends on the depth of the peel. For a light peel many patients do; the doctor tells you at the consultation." |
| Limit | Varies by person and amount; bruising is possible. | Deeper peels need more recovery time. |
| Next step | Aftercare sheet; book consultation. | Book consultation; pre-treatment instructions sent after booking. |
| Consultation only? | No (general); yes for "will I swell?" | No (general) |
| Approved by, date | Dr Varga, 3 March | Dr Varga, 3 March |
The pre-treatment side of entry 2 is covered in pre-treatment instructions patients actually follow.
Where should the answers live, and how do you keep them current?
In one place that every channel reads from: a shared document or the clinic software, with the website FAQ and booking chat copied from it, never the other way round. Review every entry when a treatment, price or doctor changes, and all entries at least twice a year. The date on each entry shows what is overdue.
Many clinic systems can already send this text at the right moment. Vendors such as Pabau describe online booking, digital consent forms sent before the visit, and SMS and email campaigns in one system (Pabau). Attach the approved answers to those messages instead of letting each staff member type their own.
A simple maintenance routine:
- Name one owner for the FAQ, usually the reception lead.
- Add a new entry when a question is asked three times in a week and has no entry.
- Send changed medical entries to the doctor for approval, with the old and new text side by side.
- Copy approved entries to the website and the chat on the same day.
For which tools may hold these answers, and which may not hold patient data, see AI in an aesthetic clinic. The wider marketing picture is in the pillar guide.
If you want help writing these answers so they are clear, consistent and free of promises, we are building the Conversion Copywriting Pack. Get notified when it launches.
FAQ
What should a patient FAQ for a clinic reception include?
The ten or so questions reception hears most often, grouped by price, time and downtime, preparation, practical details and safety. Each entry needs a short answer, its limit, the next step for the patient, who approved it and when. Questions about a patient's own condition are marked consultation only and are never answered at the desk.
Can reception staff answer medical questions?
General ones, from approved text: what a treatment involves, typical downtime, what to bring. They should not answer whether a treatment suits a particular person, interpret photos or comment on medication or medical history. Those questions go to a consultation, and a reported reaction after treatment goes to the doctor on the same day.
Can we use AI to write the clinic FAQ?
Yes, as a drafting tool. Give it the doctor's notes for a treatment and ask for answers in a fixed format with no result promises, then have the doctor correct every medical answer. Put only the approved version into the FAQ, and never paste patient details into a general AI tool while drafting.
How often should a clinic FAQ be updated?
Whenever a treatment, price, product or doctor changes, and every entry at least twice a year. A date on each entry shows what is overdue. Name one owner, usually the reception lead, and make sure the website and booking chat are updated from the master copy on the same day.
Sources
- How Small Medical Spas Can Get Started with AI Without Hiring More Staff — American Med Spa Association, 2026.
- Orvosetikai Kódex — Egészségügyi Tudományos Tanács, version in force from 2025.
- Dermal Fillers (Soft Tissue Fillers) — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2023.
- Pabau — Pabau, vendor homepage, accessed 2026.