What happens to my referral?
When you have been referred to a hospital service, your referral will be assessed with one of the following outcomes:
- You may be offered an appointment with a consultant or clinician.
- The service may assess your referral and medical notes and decide that you do not require a hospital appointment, but will contact you and the person who referred you with advice on how to manage your condition.
- In some cases you will be asked to come to hospital, for example for a test or a scan so that the service you have been referred to can make a decision about the next steps.
Please note – if you are on the waiting list you will be contacted by letter in due course regarding your referral.
What should I do if my condition gets worse?
If you feel that your condition worsens, you must inform your GP/referring clinician.
Telephone appointments
Some appointments do not need to be done face to face and instead might be carried out over the telephone.
There are many advantages of carrying out appointments via the telephone. Patients do not need to travel and it helps reduce the number of people in hospital waiting rooms.
You will be sent a letter with the date and time of your pre-arranged appointment and the clinician will contact you as near to the time stated as possible. It is difficult to estimate the time required for each consultation so the clinician may not be able to contact you at the precise time stated on your letter. They will however endeavour to call you that morning or afternoon.
The appointment telephone call will be from the number 0800 678 3393. It is a good idea to save this number in your phone so that you know it is the NHS calling you.
Please make sure your contact number is up to date with your GP Practice.
What to do if you can’t attend
In most cases you will receive your appointment date or admission date by letter. If you are unable to attend this date you should contact the telephone number on the letter as soon as possible to notify us and arrange an alternative.
Click here for more information about waiting for your appointment.
NHS Near Me
Some appointments do not need to be done in person and instead might be carried out by video call.
Video calls are carried out using NHS Near Me which is a safe and secure video calling platform that allows us to bring care closer to you.
There are many advantages of carrying out appointments via video call. Patients do not need to travel and it helps reduce the number of people in hospital waiting rooms.
You will be sent a letter with details of your pre-arranged appointment and more information on NHS Near Me.