Patient Initiated Follow-up (PIFU)

What are follow-up appointments?

Follow-up is the act of making further contact with people to check on their progress, answer questions, to give test results, make further assessments, arrange further tests, or adjust treatment. This is usually a timed appointment and may be planned in person, on video or by telephone.

What are patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) appointments?

Before PIFU, people that needed follow-up appointments had them at planned intervals. However, with planned appointments:

  • Some people have meetings at times when they are feeling perfectly well and symptom-free. These appointments may not result in any change to a person’s treatment.
  • The person will have spent time and energy putting arrangements in place to attend their appointment.
  • People currently waiting for appointments who are not symptom-free, may need to wait longer for those with planned follow-up appointments to be seen.

PIFU puts people in control of when they see their specialist. Patients initiate the follow-up appointment, instead of the hospital – this is why this process is called patient-initiated follow-up.

With PIFU, people can get advice from their clinical team when they need it and if necessary, a review appointment.

Some people may find their condition flares up in between regular booked appointments, and it’s at this point that patients really do need input from their specialist.

For some people it will mean spending less time attending hospital appointments.

Will I be offered PIFU?

People can continue with regular appointments if they want to – they do not need to take up an offer of PIFU.

PIFU may not be appropriate for all services or all patients.

If you are interested in being on a PIFU pathway for your follow-up appointments, please speak to your clinician to see if this is an option for you.

How it works

If PIFU is an option for you and you choose it:

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 or when you need one.

The healthcare professional responsible for your care will tell you what symptoms or complications to look out for and any other reason that would mean you should make contact.

Your healthcare professional 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 to see your hospital care team at all within this time period, you will be discharged back to your GP. If you have been discharged, your GP will refer you back to the hospital if you need to be seen again in the future.

For people with certain long-term conditions, where it may not be appropriate for them to be discharged from the hospital, your hospital care team will discuss this with you and make you aware of what will happen at the end of your PIFU plan. There may be a ‘safety net’ planned follow-up appointment at the end of the time period.

If you are under the care of more than one department, it is important to remember that your patient initiated follow-up plan does not apply to all of them.

Some departments may still send you regular follow-up appointments and it is important that you attend these so that they are able to monitor your condition.

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 provided to you by the healthcare professional responsible for your care.

If you have lost these details, do not worry – you can contact the service by calling the providers main contact number and a member of the team will assist you.

To arrange a PIFU appointment, you must:

  • have agreed with the healthcare professional responsible for your care that PIFU is appropriate for you
  • have been given the relevant information confirming you are on the PIFU waiting list and the time limit that will apply
Further Information

For the NHS trusts in Devon, please see the links below;

 

Your care may have been provided by an independent sector provider. If so, please contact the provider directly if you require any further information.