Millions of outpatient appointments and treatments have been delayed in NHS hospitals during the pandemic. When patients contact the hospital, they are sometimes told to ask their GP for an ‘expedite letter’. This is frustrating for you and for us, and we cannot guarantee that this will result in your appointment being brought forward.
Only the hospital can compare your needs with those of other patients on their waiting list and they will action your request accordingly. Due to hospital contract changes in 2017, hospitals are now obliged to respond to any queries you might have about your care, in very much the same way that we, as GPs, respond to patients with queries about the care provided by ourselves, Accordingly, hospital matters should not fall to your GP practice to resolve.
If your appointment has been delayed, please contact your hospital consultant’s secretary for any updates. If you are waiting for your first appointment with a consultant and have not heard for a long time, please contact the hospital’s outpatient booking office through the hospital switchboard in the first instance and then the hospital consultant secretary.
If you want to inform a hospital of a change in your symptoms, you may use the templates below when contacting the hospital. One is for patients waiting for a first appointment with a specialist, the second is for patients waiting for a follow-up appointment, treatment, or operation. You should post your letter to either Outpatient Appointments (for first appointments) or your consultant’s secretary (for follow-up care).
If you have been unable to contact outpatients or the secretary, please contact the hospital PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)-contact details can be found on the hospital website.