Patient initiated follow up

Putting you in control of your follow-up care

Currently, regular follow-up appointments are arranged by us within a specific timeframe, for example, every six months or every year. Some patients find these regular visits useful and reassuring. For others, it can be frustrating or stressful coming to the hospital if you don’t feel you need to.

We’ve started using Patient Initiated Follow-Up for appropriate patients. This allows you to arrange follow-up appointments with your care team when you feel you need them, or if your symptoms get worse. This puts you in control of your follow-up appointments and gives you access to support and guidance when you need it.

Why we’re introducing follow-ups

This type of follow-up is led by you and your family and offers a number of benefits:

You have more control over your appointments and when you need them
Appointments are made based on your individual needs
It could mean you don’t need to come to the hospital as often
With fewer patients coming in, we can make appointments available more quickly for when you need them
We can also reduce our carbon footprint by lowering the number of patients travelling to the hospital unnecessarily

What do I need to do?

If you are placed on a Patient Initiated Follow-Up plan, this should be discussed with you at your clinic. Your clinic letter will contain details of which symptoms to look out for and how to contact the service if you feel you need to be seen again.

Patient Initiated Follow-Up won’t be suitable for every patient, but if your care team think they could be right for you, they will discuss this with you.

If you experience any symptoms not listed in your letter, you should contact NHS 111 for advice. Alternatively, you can go to our Symptom Checker for more information.

Services now offering Patient Initiated Follow Up: