Patient initiated follow up - PIFU

 What is ‘patient initiated follow up’?

You may see patient initiated follow up referred to as ‘PIFU’. PIFU puts you in control.

You can make an appointment with us if you have any worries or concerns about your condition, rather than having a regular or pre-set clinic appointment. This helps to reduce unnecessary clinic appointments, reduce waiting times, and help clinical teams to support more patients in a timely manner.

PIFU isn’t suitable for everyone, and your clinician will assess whether this type of support is right for you during your clinic appointment.

How it works

You will not be given a routine follow up appointment as you may have been in the past, instead you will need to contact your service directly to arrange an appointment if and when you need one.

The health care professional responsible for your care will tell you what symptoms or complications after treatment to look out for that would mean you should make an appointment. They will also provide you with the information you need on how to contact the service to arrange this if you need to.

You will be told how long you will be on the PIFU waiting list, this will depend on what you are being treated for. If you do not need an appointment within the specified time, depending on the service responsible for your care, you will either:

• Be reviewed by a Hospital Clinician and extended on PIFU.
• Be discharged from the service. Your GP will need to re-refer you if you need to be seen again.

How do I book an appointment?

It is quick and easy to book an appointment when you need one. To do so, you should contact the service using the contact details on the leaflet provided to you by the healthcare professional responsible for your care. To arrange a PIFU appointment you must: 

• Have agreed with the healthcare professional responsible for your care that PIFU is appropriate for you and have been given the relevant information confirming you are on the PIFU waiting list.
• Contact us within the timeframe advised by your healthcare professional.