Please note: This is for those using our upgraded rostering; if you are already using rostering, please see the articles in this collection.
Visit schedules form the backbone of care delivery in Birdie. These scheduled time blocks—sometimes called "calls"—transform care plans into actionable visits where carers complete assigned tasks and medications for clients. With Birdie's upgraded rostering system, you can create flexible templates that support continuity of care while streamlining your scheduling process.
Each visit schedule has its own flexibility and can accommodate up to four carers with customisable timing, allowing you to meet specialised client needs efficiently.
This article will show you how to create and manage visit schedules that optimise both client care and your agency's operations.
Selecting the visit template length
Start by going to the Client’s profile and click on the Visits template tab. You will see a pop-up on the page asking you to update the template length if there are no existing schedules for the client.
This means the visit template will automatically repeat every number of weeks which is useful if your client has:
A different visit schedule every other week
For carers who work alternating weeks
Tasks or medications recur on a custom schedule (e.g. every 2 days)
If visits happen on different days each week e.g. Mon-Fri one week and then Sat-Sun the next week.
If the visit template is the same week-on-week then select 1 week.
Having set the template length, you will now see a number of weeks laid out on the Visit template page, in the example below, it is a 1-week template that will repeat indefinitely.
You will be able to see what day it is today by the Today tag on the weekly sidebar.
Adding visit schedules
Now that you have defined the template, you need to add the visit schedules. To do this, click on Add Visit Schedule in the top right-hand corner of the Visit template tab.
On the pop-up box, you can add details about the visit template such as:
The days a visit occurs (Mon-Sun)
The time of the visit
The start date of the visit schedule
The first occurrence of the visit (you can preview the first/last occurrences if you click the “Show” button underneath the date selector)
The last occurrence of the visit (optional for temporary visits that are not ongoing)
The type of funding for this care (depending on your package)
How many Carers are required (maximum 4)
The activity list linked to the visit schedule
When you are happy with the information, click the Create visit schedules button.
Please note: When creating a visit schedule, The start and end times of the visits must be the same for each visit in the schedule. For example, they all start at 9 am.
You will now see this visit template has been saved and is ready to assign carers.
The green indicators above each visit schedule indicate the first occurrence of this visit. If you set a last occurrence date, you'll see red indicators showing the last visit for those schedules.
Please note: It is best practice to add tasks and medications first so you can link them when first creating a visit schedule. For more guidance on this, please see this article collection.
How to edit a visit schedule
Editing a visit schedule
Before you begin editing a schedule it is important to remember that when you edit a visit on the Visit template tab, your changes apply only to that specific visit schedule - e.g. Every Monday visit at 9 am. This targeted approach gives you flexibility in managing care delivery, but it's important to understand this distinction.
To view and or edit the details of the visit schedule click on the visit and select Edit schedule on the drop-down menu.
You will be able to view and edit information such as:
Start and end time
How many Carers are assigned
Funding
Activity list (medications and tasks)
Click Save changes when you are done.
Please note: If you need to make one-off edits to visits, you will do this via the Visit Calendar tab. If you need to make recurring edits to the schedule, you will do this via the Visit template tab.
Editing an individual visit
You also have the option to edit an individual visit, meaning that the changes will only affect this visit in the schedule.
You can do this via the Visit Calendar tab. To view and or edit the details of the individual visit click on the visit and select Edit visit on the drop-down menu.
You will be able to view and edit information such as:
Start and end time
How many Carers are assigned
Funding
Activity list (medications and tasks)
Click Submit when you are done.
How to tell when a visit has been edited
When you make an edit from the Visit Calendar tab, you can identify if a visit is part of a schedule or is a one-off. You can quickly see this from the bar on the left-hand side of the visit.
A solid vertical bar that is the same colour as the visit box (in this example it is grey) shows that the visit is part of a schedule:
A striped vertical bar shows that the visit was originally part of a schedule, but the individual visit has been edited, which means it is now “detached” from the schedule.
When an individual visit that belongs to a schedule is edited (funding, activities, assignee) it becomes detached from the original schedule and is no longer impacted by visit schedule edits. Those are edits that impact multiple visits, made from the Visit Template tab.
Any edit that differs from the schedule (e.g. to funding / assigned carer/number of carers/time) will lead to a visit becoming detached.
The only action that will not lead to a striped bar is if the individual visit is cancelled. This is to ensure any edits from the schedule are still visible and not masked by the cancellation itself.
How to end a visit schedule
There are two ways to end a visit schedule to ensure that you maintain complete flexibility. If carers have checked in or out of a visit then you will need to Stop the schedule.
To do this, click on the visit and select Stop schedule on the drop-down menu.
You will see a pop-up asking you to select the last occurrence of this visit. Then click the Stop schedule button.
This visit will now have a red box above it indicating when the last occurrence of this visit will be.
When you go to the Visit calendar page you will see that this visit in the template has been removed.
Please note: Adding the end date to one schedule will only apply to visits in that schedule e.g. adding an end date to a visit on Monday at 9 am will only remove visits at that time and day.
How to delete a visit schedule
If a carer has not checked in or out of a visit then you can delete the visit schedule. Start by clicking on the visit and select Delete schedule on the drop-down menu on the Visit template tab.
You will see a pop-up asking you to confirm your actions. Click the Delete schedule button.
You will be able to see that the visit schedule has been completely removed from the Visit Calendar page.
Please note: If the first occurrence of the visit is today or in the past then it will need to be stopped using the instructions in the How to end a visit schedule above.
FAQ's
What happens if I need to resize the template?
You will only be able to resize the template when there are no visit schedules created. If you need to resize the template, you must first delete the visit schedules that have been created. Please ensure these visits have not been assigned to a carer or are expected to be carried out before deleting. You can then resize the template to what is required.
Why do I have to add an end date to each visit schedule in order to end the schedule?
This is because each visit in the template is its own schedule, this means that you have the flexibility to make the visits longer or shorter or to move them around. Because of this, it means that you have to end each visit schedule individually.
How do I know what week it is when scrolling through the visit schedule page?
You can see which week you are in on the Visit Schedule page by looking for the Today tag. You can also use the first occurrence feature, which is the green tag on top of the visit.
Can I change a “Detached” visit back to match the current schedule?
Yes, you can manually revert a visit back to match the rest of the schedule. If the visit matches the rest of the schedule with funding, activities, assignee(s), timing etc, the visit will attach to the existing schedule that it originally came from and the striped bar should revert back to a solid bar.