What are Patient initiated Follow-Ups?
Attending Hospital can be time consuming and if you don’t feel you need to this can lead to frustration. PIFU put you in control of your care by enabling you to access support when you need it rather than attending routine follow up appointments.
If you do not need to be seen in person this allows other people who do need a face-to-face appointments to have one.
PIFU is not suitable for every patient, but if your Hospital care team think they could be right for you, they will discuss this with you.
Once it has been decided that you can be safely managed on a PIFU pathway you will not be given a routine follow-up clinic appointment. Instead, for an agreed length of time you will be able to contact the service directly to arrange an appointment if this is required.
When should I contact the service?
When it has been agreed by your Clinician and yourself that you are suitable for PIFU you will be given information about when you would need to contact the service, and how to do this. A copy of this information will also be sent to your GP.