Support from Different Organisations

Hospital

Some links on this page have been colour coded to make it easier to find the information you need:

Quick Read
In-depth
Clinical level

Local hospitals

Links to relevant pages, including on contact details, appointments (outpatients), services (hospital departments), staying at a hospital (inpatients), visiting and patient advice service (PALS), for the main hospitals used by local patients, see below:

For each hospital there are links in the following order, to

  • Home – links to all pages.
  • Contact us – Main reception (can direct you to any service/department) and hospital address.
  • Outpatients – Includes links to cancel and change hospital appointments by phone or email and other help for appointments.
  • Appointments – only added if not included under outpatients.
  • Services – Hospital departments so you can contact directly (e.g. dermatology for skin).
  • Inpatients – Information to help if you stay in hospital (admission).
  • Visitor information – various information, such as hospital address, public transport etc.
  • Patient advice and liaison service (PALS) – Help with any problem you have relating to the hospital. This service is busy so try to resolve any problem directly with the hospital department.

BUckinghamshire healthcare NHS Foundation trust

Includes Stoke Mandeville, Amersham, Wycombe and Buckinghamshire Community hospitals

Frimley Health NHS Foundation trust

Includes Wexham park hospital and Heatherwood hospital

The Hillingdon NHS Foundation trust

Includes Hillingdon hospital and Mount Vernon hospital

Milton Keynes University NHS Foundation trust

Includes Milton Keynes University Hospital

Links to hospital websites, which include information on appointments (outpatients), and services (departments):

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation trust

Includes the Royal Berkshire hospital and Prince Charles eye unit

Oxford university hospitals NHS Foundation trust

Includes John Radcliff hospital, Churchill hospital, and Nuffield orthopaedic centre

West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS trust

Includes Hemel Hempstead Hospital, and Watford General Hospital

London North West University Healthcare NHS trust

Includes St Marks National Bowel Hospital

FIND ANY HOSPITAL

You can enter the postcode, town or city in England in the NHS hospital finder to find any hospital

Referrals and making an appointment

A SIMPLE INTRODUCTION TO REFERRALS

From NHS England, the British Medical Association and the National Association for Patient Participation
A introduction to referrals which is expanded on further below What happens you are referred by your GP to see a specialist?

From the NHS

Outpatient appointment waiting times

The My Planned Care NHS website provides information on local hospital outpatient appointment waiting times and information on the operations/ procedures they undertake. This is included below for local hospitals.

Changing your Appointment

Booking and rearranging hospital appointments has become a simpler process with the use of the NHS app. However, for those who prefer not to use the NHS App you can still phone the hospital directly. This is all explained in detail below.

Waiting times and operation information

From My Planned Care
“My Planned Care gives you advice and support while you wait and helps you to prepare for your hospital consultation, treatment, or surgery. This includes giving you information about waiting times at your hospital and other supporting and local services while you wait.” My Planned Care NHS
Includes

Some of the commonly used local hospitals include:

changing an appointment

Please note

  • If you do miss your appointment, most hospitals will refer you back to your GP and they will need to start the process again. Not only is this a bureaucratic process for GP practices but it will delay both yourself and also another patient been seen earlier if they had been able to have your missed appointment.
  • Most patients would like to be seen as soon as possible, so it is not normally possible to push one patient’s appointment ahead of other patients’ appointments unless for some reason it has become more urgent clinically than when it was originally booked (e.g., new symptoms since the referral suggests a risk of cancer).

You have two options to change appointments, using e-referral service or contacting the relevant hospital directly. The e-referral service is much the easiest option.

1. E-REFERRAL SERVICE

Using the e-referral service you can check your appointment details, change your appointment, cancel your appointment or cancel your referral. The NHS website allows you to do this with a booking reference number and password or access code.

From the NHS

To Log in you require

  • Booking reference number – provided by your GP practice
  • Year of birth
  • Access code or Password- provided by your GP practice

From NHS England Digital
Intended for GP practices but includes helpful video of advantages of using the NHS app Helping patients manage their referral online – NHS England Digital

2. CONTACTING THE RELEVANT HOSPITAL DIRECTLY

To contact the hospital directly to cancel or change your appointment you can either find the appointments number:

  1. Provided on your appointment letter
  2. Provided on the hospital website

Hospital websites include information to help you cancel and change outpatient appointments, normally found on the “outpatients” page, though some hospitals have a separate “appointments” page. For the main hospitals, most commonly used by local patients, links to these pages have been added in the “local hospital” section above.

patient advisory liaison service (PALS)

Only In the very unlikely event that you are unable to resolve an issue around your appointment should you escalate your issue to the patient advice and liaison service. This service is in heavy demand so please use it only if necessary.

WAITING TIMES

From the NHS
Guide to NHS waiting times in England – NHS

If you feel that your waiting time has exceeded the usual NHS waiting time then contact the hospital directly. Contact details for your local hospital can either be found on the letter sent to you by the hospital or from the previous question (on changing your appointment).

Please note
Most patients would like to be seen as soon as possible, so it is not normally possible to push one patient’s appointment ahead of other patients’ appointments unless for some reason it has become more urgent clinically than when it was originally booked (e.g., new symptoms since the referral suggests a risk of cancer).

patient advisory liaison service (PALS)

Only In the very unlikely event that you are unable to resolve your issues around appointments by contacting the relevant outpatient’s appointment team or directly contacting the relevant department should you escalate your issue to the patient advice and liaison service. This service is in heavy demand so please use it only if necessary.

cancelling your appointment if you cannot attend

Please cancel and change your hospital appointment if you cannot attend. Millions of pounds could be saved in the NHS if all patients cancel appointments rather than just not show up. Waiting lists could be reduced for everyone. Using the NHS e-referral service can make doing this much easier.

Your appointment - outpatients

The NHS provides a good summary about what to consider around your outpatient appointment
Outpatients and day patients – NHS

TRANSPORT TO AND FROM HOSPITAL

The NHS provide a summary and there is detailed local information in the link to transport.

From the NHS
How to organise transport to and from hospital – NHS

For detailed information on transport, including local support for help getting to hospital, if you are eligible, see under

Questions for an appointment

From My Planned Care
Preparing for my appointment – My Planned Care NHS

SHARED DECISION MAKING

As NHS England suggests
“Shared decision making (SDM) ensures that individuals are supported to make decisions that are right for them. It is a collaborative process through which a clinician supports a patient to reach a decision about their treatment. The conversation brings together: the clinician’s expertise, such as treatment options, evidence, risks and benefits and what the patient knows best: their preferences, personal circumstances, goals, values and beliefs.”
“Shared decision making.” NHS England website. Retrieved 18th January 2023

How you can get the most out of your hospital appointment is explained under

investigation (tests) or medication information

If you think you might need an investigation, treatment or operation, the more you understand about these options the easier it is to ask questions at your hospital appointment which are important to you.

Information on medication and investigations can be found under

procedures or operation information for your local hospital

Information on treatments and operations at the hospital you are attending can be found on the NHS My Planned Care Website
Includes

You can also view information from the hospital you are having treatment at, including information on the treatment you are having.

  • Find my hospital : includes information from each hospital on any procedures (operations) Find my hospital – My Planned Care NHS
    Note: When searching for a hospital you may need to search for the NHS Trust it belongs to, so for example Wexham Park Hospital is part of Frimley NHS Trust.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the page for each condition to find the information on treatment/ operations. So for example, for the page such as,  “ear, nose and throat” for a particular hospital you will find information on “tonsillectomy” at the bottom of the page.

Some of the commonly used local hospitals include:

There is easy read information, which includes “support in any NHS appointment”, see under

There are also national helplines which can be helpful for discussions on any general issue relating to a hospital appointment, see “National support self referral” under

After your appointment

INVESTIGATIONS AND TEST RESULTS

The responsibility of following up any investigations / test results that have been organised by hospital clinicians always lies with the hospital and there is information below how you can contact the hospital directly if you have any concerns.

Further information

There is further information on medication prescribed in outpatient appointments, booking investigations at your local hospital, how to contact a specialist nurse and how to prepare for any operation/ treatment at your local hospital. See below:

Follow up of TEST RESULTS (INCLUDING BLOOD TESTS, X- RAYS, BIOPSIES ETC) GENERATED BY A HOSPITAL CLINICIAN

Normally the hospital clinician (doctor, nurse etc.) who ordered the test will feed back the result in the next appointment they have with you or write to you with the result. This is based on national guidance.

In the NHS the important overarching principle which guides any test (including blood tests, X-rays, biopsies etc.) is that
“the clinician who orders the test is responsible for reviewing, acting and communicating the result and actions taken to the patient” (even if the patient has been discharged from hospital or outpatients). This taken from

GP practices will not chase or interpret and act on results generated by hospital clinicians. Not only is not part of their role but in addition, GP practices interfering with the hospital’s legal responsibility could have consequences for the GP practice and can blur accountability.

how you can contact the hospital for test results

So, as your GP practice is not able to help what can you do if you have concerns around test results generated by your hospital specialist?

If you have a concern around a hospital generated test then there are a number of options with contacting the secretary of the department (e.g., dermatology department dealing with skin problems) you have attended to raise your query.

  • The secretaries’ direct number will be found at the top of any clinic letter after any attendance or you can ring the hospital switchboard and ask to be put through to the relevant department.
  • The department’s direct line can also often be found on the relevant hospital website under the “service” or “department” pages. For the main hospitals, most commonly used by local patients, links to the page with an index to all the services/departments have been added in the “local hospital” section above.

patient advisory liaison service (PALS)

Only In the very unlikely event that you are unable to resolve your issues around hospital generated tests by contacting the relevant department should you escalate your issue to the patient advice and liaison service. This service is in heavy demand so please use it only if necessary.

Guidance for Clinicians:

From NHSE
 “Standards for the communication of patient diagnostic test results on discharge from hospital” discharge-standards-march-16.pdf

From the BMA

HOSPITAL MEDICATION QUERIES

For common medication queries after an NHS outpatient appointment see the “organisational medication issues” section found under

In particular look at the two questions

  • “Who has the responsibility of prescribing medication after an NHS outpatient appointment or an inpatient stay?”
  • ”Can a hospital doctor choose any drug to prescribe for me?”

Many hospital departments have specialist nurses who support patients who have a long term condition. Examples include rheumatology (rheumatoid arthritis specialist nurse) and cardiology (heart failure specialist nurse). Normally you will be told but not always, so it is always worth asking if there is a specialist nurse you can contact for any problems after your appointment. Also ask how to contact them. Normally if such a service exists you can leave a message and they will get back to you.

contacting specialist hospital nurses

If you are already under the departmental team (e.g., Heart failure team, rheumatology team you can contact the relevant Specialist Nurse for advice, just search under “the relevant department team” (e.g., Rheumatology). If you contact switch board and ask for the named nurse you will at least be able to leave a message for the specialist nurse to ring you back. If you continue to have difficulties contacting the specialist nurse then you should contact the department secretary who can relay a message to the specialist nurse.

For Wexham and Heatherwood Hospitals (NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust)

  • Specialist Nurse Directory Specialist Nurse Directory | NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust . The search box is just to the right side and above the blue banner “Specialist Nurses”.
  • If you still have difficulties, you can contact the relevant secretary by finding the contact details under the relevant department page (e.g., Cardiology for heart problems) on the services page Services | NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust . On the right-hand side of the department page, you usually have the name of each consultant and this may help when you ring the department to narrow down which is the best secretary for you to speak to.

For Stoke Mandeville, Amersham and Wycombe hospitals, and the community hospitals at Marlow, Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross, Buckingham and Thame (Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust)
There is no list of specialist nurses however there is a list of services Our services – Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust which often includes direct contact details for each department. You can contact the department for more information on the relevant specialist nurse. Alternatively, you can ring switchboard and ask for the relevant specialist nurse (e.g., heart failure) even if you do not have the name of the nurse.

For Hillingdon and Mount Vernon Hospital
There is no list of specialist nurses however there is a list of services (e.g., rheumatology)  Our services | The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which on occasions includes direct contact details for each department. You can contact the department for more information on the relevant specialist nurse. Alternatively, you can ring switchboard and ask for the relevant specialist nurse (e.g., heart failure) even if you do not have the name of the nurse.

For the Royal Berkshire and the Princes Charles eye unit (Royal Berkshire Healthcare trust)
There is no list of specialist nurses however there is a list of departments Services – Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust which may include direct contact details for each department. You can contact the department for more information on the relevant specialist nurse. Alternatively, you can ring switchboard and ask for the relevant specialist nurse (e.g., heart failure) even if you do not have the name of the nurse.

For St Marks
Specialist Practitioners Specialist Practitioners – St Mark’s Hospital

Remember all services are under pressure but if you have persistent difficulties you can go through PALS who can advise you.

PATIENT ADVISORY LIAISON SERVICE (PALS)

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

After your hospital appointment you may be asked to book an investigation (test) at the hospital. This might include a blood test, X-ray, or other test. Local guidance on how your test is booked, including what you need to do can be found under:

It is important you book the investigation (test) at the hospital you have been seen and you follow up the results with the hospital clinic you were seen at. 

Your GP practice is not able to help you book your hospital investigations arranged by the hospital or follow up any investigations (tests) arranged at a hospital appointment. If you have any difficulties then you can contact the patient advisory liaison service (PALS).

PATIENT ADVISORY LIAISON SERVICE (PALS)

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

From My Planned Care
“My Planned Care gives you advice and support while you wait and helps you to prepare for your hospital treatment, or surgery.
Includes

You can also view information from the hospital you are having treatment at, including information on the treatment you are having.

  • Find my hospital : includes information from each hospital on any procedures (operations) Find my hospital – My Planned Care NHS
    Note: When searching for a hospital you may need to search for the NHS Trust it belongs to, so for example Wexham Park Hospital is part of Frimley NHS Trust.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the page for each condition to find the information on treatment/ operations. So for example, for the page such as,  “ear, nose and throat” for a particular hospital you will find information on “tonsillectomy” at the bottom of the page.

Some of the commonly used local hospitals include:

View your personal health record online

Presently only available for Hillingdon hospital, but will likely be available at other hospitals overtime. You can ask the hospital, at your hospital appointment, if this available or look at their website.

From Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
 View your personal health record online | The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Your record may include these details from your treatment at our hospitals (Hillingdon and Mount Vernon):

  • blood test results (some results have a 28-day delay before displayed in CIE)
  • x-ray and scan reports (all radiology reports have a 28-day delay before displayed in CIE)
  • letters and discharge summaries
  • appointment dates and times, both past and future

You may also see information from any recent treatment at these hospitals:

  • Charing Cross
  • Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea
  • Hammersmith
  • St Mary’s
  • Western Eye
  • Chelsea & Westminster
  • West Middlesex
  • Ealing
  • Northwick Park

Going into hospital - admission (inpatients)

INPATIENT STAYS

The NHS provide some simple articles on going into hospital
Going into hospital – NHS

 

GOING INTO HOSPITAL – ADMISSION

From the NHS

From Age UK
Your hospital stay | Going into hospital | Age UK

Transport to and from hospital

The NHS provide a summary and there is detailed local information in the link to transport.

From the NHS
How to organise transport to and from hospital – NHS

For detailed information on transport, including local support for help getting to hospital, if you are eligible, see under

The NHS summarises some of the support available 

For local and national support for going into hospital, see topic “support in hospital” in section on “local support self referral” under

Also there is easy read information, some which applies to hospital, see under

inpatient: keeping in touch

For Stoke Mandeville, Amersham and Wycombe hospitals, and the community hospitals at Marlow, Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross, Buckingham and Thame (Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust)
Keeping in touch with family and friends with the support of PALS How we support you – Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Most hospitals allow you to send messages to patients (see under hospital services for each hospital) but it is not clear other hospitals allow video consultations with the support of hospital I-pads. Individual hospital wards should be able to inform you if this available in other hospitals.

decisions and support in hospital

From Carers Bucks
Covering Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Wycombe General Hospital, Amersham Hospital and Wexham Park Hospital
We can advise you on current hospital visiting protocols and infection and control measures, and help you understand the hospital process and discharge planning as it unfolds. We offer telephone information, advice and emotional support, signposting to a wide variety of practical support, also advising on the full range of carer issues. Hospital Work – Carers Bucks

patient advisory liaison service (PALS)

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

Leaving hospital - discharge

As the NHS suggests
“If you or someone you know goes into hospital, help and support should be arranged before you go home (are discharged).” Arranging care before you leave hospital – NHS 

support  with and after hospital discharge

From the NHS

From Gov UK
Hospital discharge service guidance – GOV.UK

From Age UK
An excellent review of being in hospital and the discharge process intended for older people but applies to younger groups.

From Carers UK
Coming out of hospital | Carers UK

From Carers Bucks
Covering Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Wycombe General Hospital, Amersham Hospital and Wexham Park Hospital
“We can advise you on current hospital visiting protocols and infection and control measures, and help you understand the hospital process and discharge planning as it unfolds. We offer telephone information, advice and emotional support, signposting to a wide variety of practical support, also advising on the full range of carer issues.” Hospital Work – Carers Bucks

From the Red Cross Home from Hospital Service
The service includes: rebuilding confidence, collecting prescriptions, offering companionship and assistance with shopping. This service is free and available to anyone living locally.

From Buckinghamshire Council

patient advisory liaison service (PALS)

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

HOSPITAL MEDICATION QUERIES

For common medication queries after a hospital stay (admission) see the “organisational medication issues” section found under

In particular look at the two questions

  • “Who has the responsibility of prescribing medication after an NHS outpatient appointment or an inpatient stay?”
  • ”Can a hospital doctor choose any drug to prescribe for me?”

Support with a hospital appointment or a hospital admission

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

NHS 111

If you think you need medical help right now, 111 online can tell you what to do next.

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