Your General Practitioner (GP) will refer you to one of our clinics if they are concerned about your heart and want a specialist opinion.
If you have an urgent problem requiring immediate cardiological assessment, you will be referred to the Emergency Department where you will initially be seen by the registrar (trainee specialist) who will decide whether you need to be admitted to hospital. Investigations will be performed as required, and the more senior members of the team will be involved where necessary.
If the problem is non-urgent, the GP will write a letter to the Cardiology Department requesting an appointment in the outpatient clinic. Each month the department receives more referrals than can be seen in clinic. One of the consultant cardiologists working in the department reviews these letters to determine who should be seen first, based on the information provided by the GP. Very urgent cases are usually seen within two weeks, but other cases may have to wait longer.
Some referrals will result in a referral for a cardiac diagnostic test only or advice/plan of care which will be provided to your General Practitioner on how best to care for you.
The First Specialist Appointment
After you have been to your GP and they have referred you to see a specialist for your treatment and you have been accepted into the service you will have to come for what is called a ‘First Specialist Appointment’ (FSA).
You will be seen by a member of the cardiology team who will ask questions about your illness and examine you to try to determine or confirm the diagnosis. This process may also require a number of tests (e.g. blood tests, x-rays, scans etc). Sometimes this can all be done during one clinic visit, but for some conditions this will take several follow-up appointments. In many cases the requested investigations will be arranged, and you will be called by our department accordingly. Your specialist will follow up on your results and contact you or your GP.
Once a diagnosis is made, you may be invited to attend the clinic and a member of the medical staff will discuss treatment options and plan for follow-up. Otherwise they will write to your GP with advice and they may or may not arrange for you to attend a follow-up clinic.
If you are offered a clinic appointment you will need to bring:
- All medicines you are currently taking including herbal and natural remedies.
- Any clinical information that you already have that may be helpful for the specialist.
