Telephone appointments

Some of our appointments can be delivered via a telephone call. Your appointment letter should confirm this.

If you have been offered a face-to-face or video appointment but would prefer to have your appointment as a telephone call, or if a telephone call is not suitable for you, please contact us.

We will tell you the expected time your call will take place. Please be ready for your call.

Please note there may be occasions where the clinician is delayed in clinic and they will call you at a slightly later time. We apologise for this inconvenience. If your call is delayed and you know you will be unable to take a later call, please contact us and we will rearrange your appointment for a suitable date and time. Please make the clinician aware of this if they call later.

At the end of the telephone call, the clinician will summarise the recommendations. This is an opportunity to check everyone has clearly understood.

A record of the telephone appointment will be sent to you in the post.

Here are some tips to help you get the most from your telephone appointment:

• Consider how you will take your call. You may wish to take the call in private or on loud speaker.
  
  
• Please advise us in advance if there are problems that would make a telephone call difficult.
  
  
• If there is too much to discuss in the time, prioritise the main issues you wish to discuss and another call back can be agreed.
  
  
• Mate a note of what is discussed. This will help you to recall any recommendations.