Keeping in touch more

You may receive a text or a letter from us asking you to let us know if you still need our care. We will tell you which department we are contacting you about, for example, Dermatology. This is because some patients are being looked after by more than one team.

In that text, you will be asked to respond within a certain time frame. If we do not receive a reply, you will sent a reminder.

You may receive a letter from us. In this case, we have set up a dedicated phone line for you to be able to leave a message with your details and your response of "yes" to stay on the waiting list or "no" to be considered for being removed from the waiting list. 

We have two ways of texting you.

When you receive a text, please reply with either “Yes” to indicate you still want to stay under the care of the department that has messaged you.

Or “No” to indicate that you no longer require care from the department that has messaged you.

Any other information you send us via text will not be processed. Please only reply with “Yes” or “No”.

If you have any questions about your care, please contact the admin team for the department that cares for you. This number will be on the last letter you received from us, or you can call our switchboard on 020 8296 2000.

If you need medical help urgently, please use 111 online or 111 telephone services, or attend your nearest emergency care centre.

We are in the process of trialing a new text service. For this service, you will receive a text with a link asking you to sign up to a patient portal.

In time, this patient portal will be used to show you the dates of your appointments with us, allow you to book an appointment, and allow us to ask you questions outside of a clinic appointment that helps us look after you better and save you trips to the hospital.

After signing up to the portal (this will take less than one minute to do), you will be able to respond and let us know if you still require care from the department we have contacted you about.

With either service, we will record your responses and share these with the department looking after you.

If you have said you still need us, you will remain under our care.

If you have said no, the team will review your case and, if safe to do so, will transfer your care back to your GP. If we do this, we will notify you and your GP of this by letter.

Trust Privacy Notice: https://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/your-information-and-what-you-should-know

For patients who have provided a mobile phone number, we will use this to communicate with you via voice or text.