Information for inpatients and outpatients as Epsom and St Helier hospitals

Appointments and stays

As a patient, coming to hospital for a test, treatment, operation or stay can be scary and worrying. We want to make your time with us as positive as possible. You’ll find information in this section about what you can expect as a inpatient and what you can expect as an outpatient at our hospitals.

You can also:

Read more about our hospitals and facilities
Plan your journey to and around our hospitals
Read more about our services and wards
Find information for visitors
Read about our consultants
Find out how to use mobile devices appropriately suring your visit.

Referrals and appointment information

If you’ve recently been referred to our hospitals, then we will need to contact you with details of your appointment. If your contact details have changed, please contact us so we can update them.

A greater choice with the e-Referral System

From Wednesday 1 August, patients will be able to choose the place, time and date of their first outpatient appointment.

Under the new NHS e-Referral Service, patients can choose their initial hospital or clinic appointment, book it in the GP surgery at the point of referral, or later at home on the phone or online.

The NHS e-Referral Service (previously known as Choose and Book) is a national electronic referral service that the whole of the NHS is adopting. You can find out more about the service at www.nhs.uk/referrals (opens in a new window).

Using the e-Referral Service at Epsom and St Helier

We’re working hard to make all our services bookable on the e-Referral Service. We will be doing this in a staged way, but by 1 August 2018, you should be able to see all of our services and their available appointments online. You will be able to view your hospital choices and book your first outpatient appointment in a number of ways:

At the point of referral, whilst at your GP appointment.
Via the national e-Referral Service appointment line: 0345 608 8888 (Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm, weekends and bank holidays 8am-4pm. Closed Christmas Day. Call charges from landlines and mobile networks may vary).
Online: www.nhs.uk/referrals (opens in a new window).

To book your appointment online or via the e-Referral Service appointment line, you will need your unique booking reference number and password. Please contact your GP practice if you do not have this or have lost it. You do not need to see your GP as a member of the practice team should be able to help.

If you have any questions about your appointment, please give us a call. You can find contact details for our services and departments on our Contact us page.

If you are unable to attend

If you are unable to attend your appointment for any reason, you can advise us of a cancellation or rescheduling over the phone by calling the department directly. The phone number should be on your appointment letter or you can find the number in our services. The sooner you let us know that you are unable to make it, the better chance we have to offer the appointment slot to another patient.

If you do need to cancel your appointment, we will offer you an alternative appointment straight away. However, if you cancel your appointment more than once you may be referred back to your GP.

If you do not attend your appointment without cancelling it beforehand you will be referred back to your GP.

Access your hospital appointment letters on the go

We are introducing a new system to make it easier for us to keep in touch with you.

Working with CFH Docmail LTD, you can now sign-up to receive your hospital appointment letters online, directly to your smartphone, tablet or computer, by setting up a private Dotpost account.

You will be able to store your appointment letters on any of your devices, keeping them safely in your online account to access them where and when you need them. CFH Docmail notifies you by email when a document arrives so you only login to your account when you need to.

The new system will be rolled out across Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust within the next six months. If you are accessing appointments with more than one department at Epsom and St Helier hospitals, you will still receive your appointment letter for the other department(s) by post until the department introduces the new system. Look out for your unique activation code in your next appointment letter.

If you decide not to sign up, you will still receive your appointment letters by post.

Appointment reminders

We operate a telephone reminder service for most appointments. We will try to call you about six days before your appointment to confirm your attendance. If we are unable to get hold of you we will try again at other times to make sure you can still make it.

If you confirm during the reminder call that you are unable to attend you will be contacted again by the booking team to discuss your request within one working day.

You also have the option of opting out of the service if you so wish and you can do this by either contacting the respective service areas or informing the receptionist at your next visit.

Is my treatment confidential?

Yes. Everyone in the NHS has a legal duty to keep any information about you confidential. Your GP will be told of your progress, although you can ask us not to do this.

We also have a legal duty to hold certain information about you. We use this information to care for you, and to monitor the quality of our services.

Apart from these purposes, no information about you will be used in a way that can identify you, unless we ask for your permission. We might use some of the information about you for research and education, but only after all any details which would make it possible to identify you have been removed.

Please let us know if you are unhappy about this.

Please see your information and what you should know for more information.

Research studies

You may be asked to take part in a research study. If you are, the researcher will explain the study in detail to you and what it would involve from you.

You are under no obligation to take part in any research, and you have every right to refuse. Doing so does not affect your treatment in any way.

However, if you do decide to help us with research, you will be asked to sign a consent form which confirms you have agreed to take part in the study.

Medical students

Our hospitals are teaching hospitals - this means that some doctors teach medical students during their clinics as well as on the wards. If you do not want other doctors present during your examination please let the receptionist nurse know.