Patients
Medefer works in partnership with the NHS and NHS Consultants to give you better, faster care
Medefer works in partnership with the NHS and NHS Consultants to give you better, faster care
We are here to help you – if you can’t find the answers to your questions here please contact us:
If you have been referred to us, then your GP has decided that you will benefit from a review by an NHS Consultant, who is a specialist in the health issue that you are experiencing.
Until recently, this meant referring you to a hospital outpatient clinic, where you could wait several months for an appointment.
Working with Medefer, your NHS GP or hospital can request an NHS Consultant to review your records online and provide advice. This service is free for patients and is faster than waiting for an appointment at a hospital clinic.
You don’t need to do anything at this point.
Once we have your details, an NHS Consultant will examine all the information in detail and decide what should happen next.
They will decide what the best course of action is for you and we will let you know. For most patients this will not mean a visit to a hospital in person.
We will let you know what the specialist Consultant recommends and what will happen next.
We will tell you what you need to do next.
Once the Consultant has decided on the best course of action, we will be in touch to let you know what will happen next.
It may be as simple as letting your GP know what ongoing care you need, or we may ask you to have further tests or to visit a hospital in person.
We will let you know at every step of the way.
Shorter waiting times
Because you don’t have to wait to be seen in person, the waiting times for an NHS Consultant to review your case are much shorter.
Fewer in-person hospital visits
And because we review your information online you will not need to attend a hospital in person unless you really need to.
If you have been referred to us, then your GP has decided that you will benefit from a review by an NHS Consultant, who is a specialist in the health issue that you are experiencing.
Until recently, this meant referring you to a hospital outpatient clinic, where you could wait several months for an appointment.
Working with Medefer, your NHS GP or hospital can request an NHS Consultant to review your records online and provide advice. This service is free for patients and is faster than waiting for an appointment at a hospital clinic.
You don’t need to do anything at this point.
Once we have your details, an NHS Consultant will examine all the information in detail and decide what should happen next.
They will decide what the best course of action is for you and we will let you know. For most patients this will not mean a visit to a hospital in person.
We will let you know what the specialist Consultant recommends and what will happen next.
We will tell you what you need to do next.
Once the Consultant has decided on the best course of action, we will be in touch to let you know what will happen next.
It may be as simple as letting your GP know what ongoing care you need, or we may ask you to have further tests or to visit a hospital in person.
We will let you know at every step of the way.
Shorter waiting times
Because you don’t have to wait to be seen in person, the waiting times for an NHS Consultant to review your case are much shorter.
Fewer in-person hospital visits
And because we review your information online you will not need to attend a hospital in person unless you really need to.
Whilst Medefer continues to work hard to try and minimise any disruptions to the care of our patients please be aware that there may be changes to non-urgent NHS services as per recent guidance from NHS England. This is to ensure that the NHS can continue to provide services for patients needing urgent treatment for Coronavirus.
At Medefer, your care is our top priority and, whilst we continue to work hard to try and minimise any disruptions to the care of our patients, there may be longer waiting times for routine investigations and face-to-face appointments. We also understand that you may be concerned about having a test or visiting the hospital given the current situation.
Here are the answers to some of the questions we are asked most frequently.
We are an organisation that works directly with the NHS to provide remote access to specialist Consultants. We give patients like you extremely fast access to the advice and support you need, doing away with the long waiting times often necessary for traditional, in-person hospital appointments.
Your GP has decided that you will benefit from a review by a Consultant. Until recently, this meant referring you to a hospital outpatient clinic, where you could wait several months for an appointment.
Once your case has been reviewed by one of our NHS Consultants they will provide advice to your GP, organise further tests or investigations for you, set up a telephone consultation appointment, or refer you on to hospital depending on what your needs are.
The service that Medefer provides is free to patients.
The time it takes will depend on whether you need further tests or investigations. However, the target NHS time for preparing a treatment plan is 18 weeks, and for some specialties in some areas this can be much longer. Medefer helps the NHS to process referrals faster, and we typically manage to halve the average waiting time.
Your Consultant has now reviewed your referral and decided they need further details of your medical history, which sometimes means specific information that your GP may not have collected.
You will receive an invite to book your appointment online via letter and if we have a mobile number and email address for you, you will also receive your invite digitally. Once you access our booking portal you will be asked to verify your details, once this step is complete you will be able to book your appointment online.
Results from investigations can take up to six weeks to be received by us, so if it has been less than six weeks since you had your tests then please be patient. When we have all your test results they will be sent to your Consultant for review.
Whilst Medefer continues to work hard to try and minimise any disruptions to the care of our patients please be aware that there may be delays to tests and test results may take longer than usual. During this time we will continue to review your care to make sure that your referral is managed as safely as possible. Patients who are felt to need greater priority will be contacted and advised on what to do.
If you have received a call from 0800 111 4881, this is our bookings team calling to arrange a telephone appointment with one of our doctors. This means that your Consultant has reviewed your referral and would like more information from you about your health to be able to decide on the next steps on your care.
Please call us back on 0800 111 4881 so we can arrange a convenient time for your telephone appointment.
