24 December 2009
The Trust is pleased to announce the launch of a new central appointments centre to make it easier for patients to book, amend and cancel outpatient appointments at its hospitals.
As a result, all patients who are directly referred for a hospital appointment by their GP are able to choose the date and time of their appointment, and where possible select which hospital they'd prefer to be seen at.
Patients can contact the centre to make, change or amend appointments by calling one central telephone number – 020 8296 2968. The appointments centre will be open from 8am – 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Alternatively, patients can access the appointments centre via the Trust's website (see additional information, right). Here, they can amend, cancel and book appointments 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Sue Jones is the Trust's Director of Service Improvement. She said: "We are moving away from the days when patients are referred to hospital, are put on a waiting list and then receive a letter from the hospital telling them when and where their appointment is.
"The appointments centre will make it much easier for patients to be able to book, amend or cancel their outpatient appointments. The centre is staffed by a dedicated team to answer calls and patients not currently booked through the NHS Choose and Book system will now be able to agree their own appointment time."
As well as making life easier for patients, the Trust hopes that the new appointments centre will help reduce the number of people who fail to turn up for outpatient appointments.
Sue added: "Like any other service, we will accommodate what people want wherever possible. But patients have a responsibility too – we're asking that people let us know if they need to reschedule an appointment or if they have to cancel. Doing this will not only help the Trust save much needed resources and money, but it will also allow us to see other patients more quickly."
The appointments centre covers all outpatient appointments for Trust services at Epsom, St Helier, Sutton and the Nelson hospitals.
