Your appointment

Your letter tells you if your appointment is face-to-face in person at the clinic, a phone consultation, or a video consultation.  

You might find it helpful to prepare some questions or write a list of things you’d like to discuss during your appointment.

If your appointment is face-to-face at the clinic, please arrive no more than 15 minutes before your appointment time. We aim to see you at your appointment time, but the nature of healthcare and individual needs sometimes leads to significant delays in the waiting room. This might be up to 2 hours on rare occasions, so please plan for this. 

Let us know if you need to cancel your appointment

We are committed to treating our patients within 18 weeks of GP referral. While this is not always achievable given current demands, we are working hard to address this.

You can help us to provide treatment as quickly as possible by:

  • Contacting us as soon as possible using the phone number on your letter if you are unable to attend or no longer need an appointment. Letting us know in advance allows us to offer your appointment to someone else. If you do not come to your appointment and do not cancel in advance, a clinician will review your records and may transfer your care back to your GP.

  • Talk to your GP about your referral so that you know what to expect and make yourself available to attend once you have an appointment.

  • Make sure your GP always has the correct contact information for you and check this with hospital reception staff or the self check-in kiosks at each outpatient visit. 

Bring any medication you are currently taking

Please bring all your medicines in their original containers with you, including those you have bought yourself, such as herbal remedies. 

Communications needs

If you have any special communication needs or a disability that might not seem immediately obvious, please let us know before your appointment so that we can make arrangements to meet your needs at your appointment and in follow-up communications.

Communication needs might include providing an interpreter or information in an alternative format. Call us or email using the contact details at the top of your letter, as soon as possible.

Entitlement to planned NHS hospital treatment

NHS treatment from GP practices is free of charge to all. While emergency hospital care is free to all, most planned hospital care is only free for people who are living lawfully in the UK on a properly settled basis.

We are required by law to check the residency status of all patients referred to the Trust. You may be asked to provide evidence to confirm your residency status and entitlement to free NHS treatment.

If you have any concerns about your entitlement to free NHS treatment, or have any objection to the checks being made, please ask a member of staff to contact the Overseas Department and someone will discuss your situation with you.

Find out more about patients who may be charged for NHS care

No smoking

All NHS healthcare settings are smoke-free to protect the health of all patients, visitors and staff. If you want free help to stop smoking, please ask to be put in touch with our Stop Smoking service.

Questions to ask your doctor

The Department of Health and Social Care have developed a webpage to help everyone get the best out of their appointment with their doctor or health professional.

The 'What to ask your doctor' page on NHS.uk contains a series of suggested questions that you might want to ask when you attend your appointment. 

Feedback

We aim to provide high-quality care for every patient. If you would like to contact the Trust about any aspect of your care, please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) office: 

University Hospital Lewisham, pals.lewisham@nhs.net or phone 020 8333 3355 

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, pals.qeht@nhs.net or phone 020 8836 4592.