Many patients with long-term conditions, or following hospital treatment, are asked to meet with their clinical team regularly. However, those follow-up appointments don’t always need to be at routine intervals, but rather just when the patient needs them.
NCL providers have recognised this and have therefore set about to implement patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) appointments. This type of appointment allows the patient to arrange a follow-up appointment for either themselves, or someone they care for, only when the appointment is needed. This is an alternative to a routine follow-up appointment, which can sometimes be inconvenient, stressful and an unnecessary expense.
If PIFU is available and suitable for a patient, the healthcare professional responsible for their care will discuss this option with the patient through a shared decision making process, and, if the patient is happy, the healthcare professional will add their name to the PIFU appointment list.
Once on the list, the healthcare professional will provide the patient with details on how to contact the service directly to arrange a follow-up appointment should the patient need it.
The healthcare professional will provide information on the symptoms or complications to look out for, how long the patient will be on the list for, and what will happen at the end of the time period.
If anything on this page is unclear or outdated, users should contact the GP Website team via the feedback button. The NCL GP liasions can also be contacted for provider-specific queries.
GP liaison contacts
Contact details for all NCL providers
Additionally, a PIFU FAQs document has been developed for primary care colleagues. See Downloads in the sidebar of this page.
Review date: Friday, 29 November 2024
