https://kingstonhospital.nhs.uk/information/telephone-appointments-outpatients
Where possible, outpatient appointments will now take place over the phone.
A telephone appointment is the same as a face-to-face appointment but conducted over the phone instead of at the hospital or community clinic.
This leaflet explains what this means for you.
If you have been given a phone appointment, please do not come to the hospital as you will not be seen.
As part of our work to improve services we are increasing the number of clinic appointments delivered by phone. This is to improve patients’ experience by reducing the need to take time off work, travel to and park in the hospital, and navigate around an unfamiliar environment.
Your health professional has reviewed your condition and decided that it is safe for your hospital appointment to take place over the phone.
Please make sure that:
You are available to speak to the health professional and that your phone is loud enough to hear when it rings.
You have a list of your current medication and any documentation relevant to your condition or appointment.
You have pen and paper ready to write down any notes.
You are somewhere quiet where you can talk privately.
You are in a location that has a good mobile phone signal if we are calling your mobile phone.
If a family member, friend, or carer usually comes with you to your hospital appointments, please ask them to be with you for your phone appointment. If you have a speaker phone facility on your phone, please use this.
We will use the phone number we hold in our hospital records. If you want to check this, call your hospital department using the phone number on your hospital appointment letter.
It’s very important that you do not call or text the number that the health professional calls you from for your phone appointment. This number is only for phone clinic appointments.
Please tell the health professional straight away.
If there is a different number which they can call you on, please tell them.
The health professional may offer to call you at a different time.
If the healthcare professional doesn’t phone within an hour of your appointment time, you may check with the hospital department concerned using the number on your appointment letter.
If you have difficulty communicating by phone, because, for example, you have hearing loss, a learning disability and/or autism, please ask a friend or relative to phone your hospital department to discuss alternative options.
| Your Hospital Department | Use the phone number at the top of your appointment letter |
Please speak to a member of staff before or during your visit to the hospital if you require translation support to access Patient Information. Please ring the phone number on your appointment letter, if you have one.
Please contact the Patient Experience Team on 020 893 3850 if you need this information in a different format.
