Digital forms: health declaration, treatment consent and signature
Which form each industry needs, what a health declaration and a consent form must contain, what the law says about e-signatures, and how it reaches the client.
Этот гид пока доступен на одном языке: English.
Коротко
- A digital form is one the client fills in and signs on their phone before the appointment, from a link in a message, with the answers kept on the client card with a date and a signature. Not a sheet at the counter, not a photo on WhatsApp.
- Three forms cover most businesses: a new-client form, a health declaration, and a treatment consent. What matters is the questions, not the design.
- The answers are sensitive data: they require consent, limited access, and retention under privacy law. A form that arrives on WhatsApp and stays in a phone's gallery is a breach, not a convenience.
What a digital form is, and why not WhatsApp
A digital form is one the client fills in and signs on their own phone, from a link they received in a message, with the answers kept in one place: on the client card, with the date, the time and the signature. That sounds like a technical detail, but it is what separates a form that works from a form that merely exists.
The common way today is to send the client a picture of a form on WhatsApp, which they print or photograph signed. The result: the answers are scattered across chats, phone galleries and emails, nobody can find them when needed, and there is no way to prove who signed and when. And in the eyes of the law, clients' medical information sitting in the gallery of a private phone is a problem, not a solution.
The three forms every business needs
The new-client form
Details, preferences, how they heard of you, and consent to receive messages about appointments. Filled in once, before the first visit. This is the form that turns a random client into a client with a card.
The health declaration
What the client needs to tell you for the treatment to be safe: conditions, medication, allergies, pregnancy, recent surgery, sensitivities. Every industry has its own questions: a beautician asks about retinol and isotretinoin, a trainer about the heart and the back, an acupuncturist about clotting. A declaration is renewed: once a year, or when something changes.
The treatment consent
What the treatment involves, the risks, the alternatives, and what the client approves. In medical treatment it is a legal duty: Israel's Patient's Rights Law, for example, requires informed consent to medical treatment after the necessary information was given (Kol Zchut), and most countries have an equivalent. In invasive cosmetic treatments it is a professional duty and common sense. Signed before every new kind of treatment.
Which form for which industry
| Industry | Required | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmetics and facials | Health declaration, consent to an invasive treatment | A new-client form with preferences |
| Gel nails and manicure | New-client form | A short declaration on allergies and fungal infections |
| Therapists and complementary medicine | Health declaration, treatment consent | A follow-up questionnaire between treatments |
| Clinics (medical, dental) | Informed consent, health declaration | A privacy and information-release form |
| Fitness and personal training | Health declaration (PAR-Q) | Consent to a training programme |
| Tattoos and piercing | Treatment consent, health declaration, age | Aftercare instructions, signed |
| Hair salons and barbers | None | An allergy declaration before a first colour |
| Private tutors and classes | None | A parent's consent for a minor |
The rule: if an answer could change what you do, it is a question for the form. If not, it is data you collect for no reason, and such a collection is a liability, not an asset.
What the law says
Two kinds of law touch these forms. Electronic signature laws (Israel's Electronic Signature Law, the EU's eIDAS, the US ESIGN Act) recognise a signature made by electronic means; for most business declarations and consents a signature recorded with the signer's identity, the date and the time, together with the document as signed, is enough. Privacy law treats information about health as specially sensitive: it requires consent to the collection, a defined purpose, security, access only for those who need it, and deletion when it is no longer needed. In Israel the Privacy Protection Authority guides and enforces, with wider powers since Amendment 13 came into force in August 2025; in Europe it is the GDPR.
What that means in practice for a small business:
- The client knows why the information is collected and agrees to it, on the form itself.
- The answers are kept in a system with limited access, not on an employee's phone.
- Whoever does not need to see (the person answering the phones, say) does not see.
- When a client asks for deletion, you delete, unless there is a duty to keep.
- When you change the form, an old version that was signed stays as it was signed.
How to build a form clients actually fill in
Шаг за шагом
- Start from the questions, not the design. Write down what you really need to know. Delete every question whose answer would change nothing.
- Keep it short. Ten questions on a new-client form, fifteen on a health declaration. A form of forty questions is filled in a hurry and without reading.
- Mostly closed questions, one open at the end. Yes/no, pick from a list, then "is there anything else we should know?".
- Explain why. One line at the top: "These questions help us tailor the treatment and keep you safe. The answers are kept on your client card and seen only by the treating team."
- The signature at the end, not in the middle. The client reads, approves, and signs once.
- Send it before the appointment. With the booking confirmation or a day before, by link, in the client's language. Whoever has not filled it in gets a reminder.
- Read it before the client walks in. That is the whole point: knowing in advance, not finding out in the chair.
The following questions help us tailor the treatment and keep you safe. The answers are kept on your client card, seen only by the treating team, and you can ask to update or delete them at any time.
What the system should do
Appointment scheduling software that handles forms properly does five things: sends the form automatically by service (a health declaration before a facial, not before a haircut), reminds whoever has not filled it in, keeps the answers and the signature on the client card with the date, shows you in the morning who has filled it in and who has not, and keeps every version of the form as it was signed.
In Torly it works like this: you build forms with question types (text, choice, yes/no, date, signature), attach a form to services, and the system sends it to the client by link, by SMS or WhatsApp, after booking and before the appointment, in the language they booked in. Whoever has not filled it in gets a reminder. The answers and the signature are kept on the client card with a timestamp, every version of a form is kept apart, and the calendar shows who has filled it in. Forms are an add-on by plan; what is included is on the pricing page.
Вопросы и ответы
Is a signature on a phone valid?
In most countries, including Israel under its Electronic Signature Law, an electronic signature is recognised, and for most business uses (a declaration, a consent, accepting terms) a signature recorded with the date, the time and the signer's identity is enough. Documents that need a certified signature (a notary, a court) follow other rules. When in doubt, a lawyer.
What must a health declaration contain?
The questions relevant to your treatment: conditions, medication, allergies, pregnancy, recent surgery, and whatever the practitioner needs to know to do no harm. One open question at the end ("is there anything else we should know?") catches what you forgot. And no more than that: a question that does not affect the treatment is data you collect for no reason.
When do I send the form to the client?
With the booking confirmation, or a day or two before. A client who gets the form at the counter fills it in a hurry and delays the next appointment. A client who filled it at home arrives prepared, and you read the answers before they walk in.
How long do I keep the forms?
As long as there is a reason: an active client, the limitation period of a possible claim, or a professional requirement in your industry. And no longer. Privacy law requires not holding data that is no longer needed, and deleting at the client's request when there is no reason to keep it.
What is the difference between a consent form and a health declaration?
A health declaration is what the client tells you about themselves. A treatment consent is what the client approves after you explained: what the treatment involves, the risks, and the alternatives. For medical and invasive cosmetic treatments both are required, separately.
Can I use a Google Form?
You can, but the answers stay in a spreadsheet apart from the client and the appointment, with no signature, no link to the card, and an open privacy question about who sees the sheet. For a business that takes a few new clients a week it becomes a problem quickly.
Источники
Обновлено · Автор: Моти Ханука
Создаёт Torly – систему онлайн-записи для малого бизнеса – и каждый день работает с владельцами, которым нужен полный календарь и меньше звонков. Пишет здесь о том, чему мы учимся по пути.