What to expect at an outpatients appointment

Please arrive no earlier than 10 minutes before your appointment – if you come too early, we may ask you to wait outside the hospital so our waiting areas don’t get too crowded.

If you are late, we may not be able to see your child and may need to reschedule your appointment.

We will weigh and measure your child before their appointment as usual, as well as carrying out other checks or asking for a urine sample.

Our doctors and nurses may be wearing extra protective clothing for the appointment, such as a face mask and apron. If the doctor or nurse is taking a swab or doing a procedure that may produce secretions, they will wear a visor as well as a mask, gloves and apron. This is in line with the latest national guidance and helps us to keep everyone safe.

Your appointment letter will usually give the name of the consultant caring for your child. Our consultants work in teams with other doctors, called registrars or specialist registrars. We cannot guarantee that you will always see the consultant but we can assure you that the consultant is kept fully informed of the results of appointments and tests.

If the doctor wants to examine your child, they will ask your child to lie on a bed that has curtains around it. You will, of course, be able to stay during any examinations. You can also ask for a chaperone of the same sex as your child – please ask us about this when you check in at reception.

If you need to see several specialists as part of your visit, we may ask you to stay in one room while the specialists come to you. This will reduce the need for you to travel around different areas of the hospital.

If your child needs additional tests or scans, we will try to organise these for the same day to save you another journey to GOSH. However, there may be some occasions where this is not possible – we will tell you if this is the case. Our Pharmacy team are posting out medications to your home so you may not need to go to the Pharmacy in the main hospital.

Sometimes, your child might come back to GOSH for an inpatient admission (including an overnight stay) or a day case admission (just for the day). Otherwise, the doctor will arrange to see your child again – when this is scheduled depends on their individual needs and circumstances – this and following appointments are usually called ‘follow up’ appointments and may not be for the same length of time as the first appointment.

If you’re told that your child requires a follow-up appointment or test, please don’t return to the reception desk. A member of our team will call you to agree a date and time.

Sometimes your child’s care can be continued at your local hospital, so the doctor will ‘discharge’ them from GOSH.

Your feedback is really important to us. We would like to know how your experience was – from having your appointment booked, through to your consultation. You can fill in our online form or complete a feedback card.

If you have any questions, please call the Outpatient Appointment Centre on 020 7829 8880.