Your outpatient appointment
We've made some temporary changes to outpatient appointments.
We will let you know if there are any changes to your appointment by text, call, or letter.
We may:
- offer you a video appointment or telephone appointment
- cancel or rearrange your appointment if it is safe to do so.
If your appointment goes ahead by phone, the number may appear as a private or unknown caller - please pick up.
If you do not hear from us, you should attend your appointment as usual, remembering to follow our new rules for coming to hospital, below.
Before your appointment
Do not leave for your appointment if you have any of the following symptoms:
- a high temperature (37.8 degrees or higher)
- a new continuous cough
- loss of smell (sometimes called anosmia).
Instead:
- follow the national COVID-19 guidance
- call us using the number on your appointment letter so we can talk about your care.
Travelling to your appointment
Please attend your appointment alone if possible. If you cannot come alone, please speak to someone involved with your care to tell them that you will bring someone with you.
Try to avoid using public transport. Instead, you could:
- Drive yourself if you can.
- Ask a family member to drive you if you cannot drive yourself. If possible, they should wait in the car for you and should not come into the hospital.
- Request patient transport (if this is your first appointment, you need to arrange patient transport with whoever referred you, like you GP).
- Use a taxi if you have to. If you are coming by taxi, you should wear disposable gloves and a face covering. Dispose of the gloves once you arrive.
If you are driving, please follow the instructions in your appointment letter about where to park.
Wear a face covering to protect other patients, visitors, and our staff
Please wear a face covering when you come to the hospital. Your face covering must cover your mouth and nose. Only take off your face covering if your clinician asks you to.
You can buy face coverings from various places online, or you can make one at home by following the government’s instructions.
Remember, face coverings are just one way to protect ourselves, our friends and family, other patients, and staff. They only work if everyone uses them.
When you arrive
Your appointment letter will tell you which hospital entrance you should use. These entrances will be clearly signposted on your arrival.
Please only use this entrance: this helps us to keep you as safe as possible during your visit.
Checking your symptoms before your appointment
When you enter the hospital, we will take your temperature and ask you several questions. This is known as screening, and it helps us check whether you have symptoms that could suggest you may have COVID-19.
If you have any symptoms, we are likely to ask you to return home, and we will reschedule your appointment.
If your care can’t be rescheduled for clinical reasons, we will discuss what will happen next with you at that point.
If you don’t have any symptoms, you can go for your appointment as normal.
Please help us keep everyone safe by respecting the social distancing guidance we have put in place in our waiting areas and clinics.
Picking up medication after your appointment
We’re making some improvements to our pharmacy at Northwick Park Hospital between August and October 2021. During this period, there will be some changes to the way in which our pharmacy service works. We may ask you to:
- wait on site for your medication, or
- return to the hospital later to pick up your medication.
Waiting on site for your medication
If you’re prescribed medication which you will need soon after your appointment, we’ll ask you to wait on site for it to be dispensed.
You can wait in our main pharmacy outpatient waiting area.
Our pharmacy team will text you when your prescription is ready at the pharmacy collection point.
Pharmacy collection point map[pdf] 359KB
Returning to pick up your medication
If you’re prescribed medication but you don’t need it immediately after your appointment, we may ask you to return to the hospital later to pick it up. This means you won’t have to wait for a long time in the hospital.
Our pharmacy team will text you once your prescription is ready to be picked up.
You can use our drive-through service, so you can collect your medication quickly and easily without having to park your car. Alternatively, you can visit the drive-through service on foot.
Your clinical team will explain more during your appointment and give you full details about what to do next.