Having visited your GP, you maybe referred to hospital for further investigations and treatment. Once your referral has been received you will then be added to the hospital’s Outpatient Waiting List.
In order to ensure your visit to hospital can be facilitated please note the following:
- When you attend your G.P. please give them details of all unavailability and if you would require an interpreter to be in attendance at your appointment
- Please ensure that all contact information is up to date
- Your GP will then send an electronic referral to the hospital within your catchment area
- Referral is then processed by the Hospital
- You should be normally be appointed within 12 weeks, this maybe sooner if your Doctor has classed your referral as urgent – Please do not contact the Practice before this time to check on the progress of your referral
- You can if you wish contact the Hospital Department directly that you have been referred to, if you have any concerns
- If you still have any questions about your referral then please contact the Practice
What you can expect
When offering you an appointment, the hospital will:
- give you a minimum of 7 days notice of an offer of appointment
- inform you of the consequences of refusing a reasonable offer
- send notice of appointments by letter at least 14 days before the appointment and in a format appropriate to your needs
- tell you how long the appointment will last prior to attending
- ensure that if the Hospital breaches the Treatment Time Guarantee, you are offered the next available appointment and an explanation given as to why the guarantee was breached
- ensure that any additional needs are taken into account and support is in place when offering an appointment
- explain to you that it might not always be possible for you to be seen and treated locally and provide details of possible locations
- advise you as early as possible if you will need to travel for treatment
- If you require transport for the upcoming appointment, please phone one week in advance. Please access the patient transport to arrange this. You will be asked a series of questions about your mobility, this is to assess if you are eligible for ambulance transport.
I want to check the progress of my referral
If you have any questions about hospital appointments or are looking for the results of a test done at hospital, then please phone the appropriate secretary directly.
Hospital information / appointments are not always shared on to our computer system and we only get results from hospital tests that we have directly requested.
Waiting List – New Text Message System
NHS Lothian have launched a new text message service to support an ongoing waiting list
review process, this will enable patients to confirm whether they still need to be sent an
appointment.
The text message service is being rolled out across a range of specialties starting with
Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Gynaecology, Colorectal General Surgery, Ear, Nose &
Throat, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Urology, Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery and
Rheumatology.
Patients who have been waiting for outpatient appointments for 26 weeks or more will
receive a text message from NHS Lothian asking them to log in to an online portal using a
unique PIN and their date of birth. Once logged in, the patient can quickly and easily
provide an update on whether they still need an appointment. Gathering this information is
critically important for outpatient services, as it ensures that appointments are only issued
to those who still require them.
The new text message service will be complimented by more traditional communications
methods, helping to ensure that no patient is excluded. Clear processes are also in place
to ensure that appropriate follow-up action can be taken should a patient not respond to a
text they receive.
Information on the new text message system will be available on the NHS Lothian website
and will be promoted across NHS Lothian’s social media channels.
An image of the text message is available below, along with some FAQs. The sender
details will be ‘NHS Lothian’. Each patient will receive a unique PIN and URL address.
FAQ
Which patients will receive a text message?
The new text message service is being rolled out across a range of specialties starting
with Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Gynaecology, Colorectal General Surgery, Ear, Nose &
Throat, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Urology, Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery and
Rheumatology. Texts will be issued to patients who have been waiting for outpatient appointments for 26
weeks or more.
How will patients know the text is from NHS Lothian?
The text will only be issued to patients who have been waiting for outpatient appointments
for 26 weeks or more in the specialties outlined above. The text message sender will be
NHS Lothian. Each individual will receive a unique PIN and URL.
Will the patients be asked for any additional information?
Once a patient logs into the secure portal using the PIN code provided in their text
message and their date of birth, they will be prompted to confirm if they wish to remain on
the waiting list. No additional patient information will be asked for.
What if patients don’t have a mobile phone?
We recognise that not everyone has a mobile phone, and others may not want or be able
to communicate in this way. The new text message service will be complimented by more traditional communications methods, helping to ensure that no patient is excluded.
Clear processes are also in place to ensure that appropriate follow-up action can be taken
should a patient not respond to a text they receive.
Why are you contacting these patients?
When patients have been waiting for an appointment for some time, it is important for us to
re-engage with them. A patient’s circumstances may have changed for example some
people may see an improvement in their condition, others will have received treatment
elsewhere and indeed some may have moved away. The new text message service allows
patients to provide us with an update on their situation quickly, easily and securely,
meaning less appointments are issued for patients who no longer require them
