Patient Initiated Follow-Up (PIFU)

What is a patient initiated follow-up (PIFU) appointment?

PIFU puts you in control of your ongoing outpatient treatment. You can make an appointment to see us, or talk to us by telephone, if you need to at any time.

Why has PIFU been set up?

• Research has shown that having a regular outpatient follow-up does not help prevent disease returning or identify any new problems, and many patients find that follow-up visits to the hospital cause a lot of anxiety.
• In a recent survey, 25% of patients told NHS England that they didn’t feel their follow-up appointment had been of value to them.
• We have therefore set up patient initiated follow-up appointments for suitable patients.
• These are designed to be more convenient for you and save you stress and anxiety, time and travel.

How do these PIFU appointments work?

• Your clinical team will inform you by letter that instead of having a follow-up outpatient appointment booked at a specific time in the future, your doctor/ nurse has ordered a patient initiated follow-up appointment for you.
• The PIFU appointment has an expiry date (for example 3 months, 6 months or 12 months, as appropriate for you). If you would like to have a follow-up appointment within the timeframe set out in your PIFU appointment letter, you should contact the hospital to book an appointment.

How do I get my PIFU Appointment?

If you have a PIFU letter and would like to be seen by the specialty, who sent it to you, you will need to contact the hospital to book the appointment on the number provided within your PIFU letter.

What if I don’t want a follow up appointment?

• You do not have to have a follow-up appointment. If you would prefer not to have an appointment you do not need to do anything.
• If you do not contact us to book the PIFU, it will simply expire at its due date.
• We will not contact you to book the PIFU appointment, it has to be activated by you.

Useful contact details

For follow-up appointments: outpatient call handling team: 01223 274900.

Will I always be followed up in this manner?

• Not necessarily. If we need to see you, so that we can undertake a clinical examination, we will ask you to come to the clinic.
• In such instances we will arrange for you to attend a hospital outpatient appointment.

Will I receive any information to help me remember symptoms and side effects to look out for?

Yes- This is called an End of Treatment Summary and will outline the treatment you have received and any symptoms or side effects to look out for to initiate your PIFU order. Your GP will also receive a copy of this, so you can discuss any follow up tests or treatment related effects with them at any time.

My Chart

If you have not already done so, we would encourage you to sign up for MyChart. This is the electronic patient portal at Cambridge University Hospitals which allows patients to securely access parts of their health record held within the hospitals’ electronic patient record system (Epic). It is available via your home computer or smart phone.

• If you are interested in this please let us know and we can provide information, or look on our website.