Patient Led Follow Up – Putting you in control of your appointments

We encourage all patients to take an active role in their care, and we want to make sure your follow up appointments work better for you.

We know that attending appointments can be time consuming, costly and cause worry. We are learning from you that follow up appointments are not always useful or needed.

Now, you and your healthcare professional can work together to decide the best option for you, this may include:

• No follow up appointment at all.
• A follow up appointment for an agreed date, for example in six months.
  - Follow up appointments may be at the hospital, or by telephone or video.
  
  
• Patient led follow up – putting you in control (we often call this Patient Initiated Follow Up).
  - Patient led follow up will not be suitable for everyone, but if it is suitable for you, it means you only have a follow up appointment if you feel you need one.
  -Your healthcare professional will make it clear when you need to get in touch with us.

• You can only ask us for an appointment for the same condition you have seen your healthcare professional about before.
• You will be given an information leaflet or letter. This will give you information on any signs or symptoms you need to look out for and the best way to get in touch with us.

Video - patient initiated follow up

This video helps to explain Patient Initiatied Follow Up - Taking control of your follow up appointments - YouTube  

Patient Initiated Requests to Move Provider (PIDMAS)

In England, NHS patients have the right to request to move to a different hospital to receive their care/treatment if they have been waiting longer than 18 weeks.

As the NHS continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic we are initially contacting all patients who have been waiting over 40 weeks and inviting them to be considered to move hospital to receive earlier care/treatment.

If you are eligible, you will receive a SMS and/or letter with the option to opt in.

Many patients may be deemed clinically appropriate to move provider.

However, not in all circumstances will we be able to identify alternative capacity to facilitate a move.