Hospital appointments
You can choose where and when to receive treatment according to what matters most to you.
If your GP needs you to see a specialist for an appointment or treatment, you can choose where to go from a range of NHS, private and independent hospitals across England.
This choice is available because Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group buys routine inpatient, day-case and outpatient services (referred to as ‘planned or elective care’) from a number of hospitals across the country on behalf of the community.
What’s the benefit of choice?
You can choose where and when to receive treatment according to what matters most to you.
For instance, you may want to visit a clinic that’s convenient to get to, or one that has a good reputation for treating your condition.
Or you may wish to see a specific consultant, or go back to a hospital where the doctors or nurses treated you well.
Will I always have choice?
Choice may not be available if:
- you have suspected stroke, heart attack or cancer and need to be seen quickly
- your preferred hospital or clinic doesn’t treat your condition
About referrals and choosing appointments
If you need to see a specialist, your GP will make a referral.
If choice is available, you’ll be sent an appointment request letter with advice on how to choose and book your appointment via telephone, textphone or online.
This system, known as e-Referral, lets you choose a hospital, date, time and named consultant team for your first appointment.
The letter will suggest several hospitals or clinics that are either local to you or recommended by your GP practice for your condition.
If you’d like to research and choose alternatives, go online to the NHS website or contact the telephone appointments line on 0345 60 88 888.
If you don’t have access to the internet, your local library can help you research the choices available and make an appointment through the e-Referral system.
Waiting times
You have the legal right to start your NHS consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral, unless you choose to wait longer or it’s clinically appropriate that you wait longer. Patients with urgent conditions, such as cancer and heart disease, will be able to see a specialist more quickly.
Getting to and from your appointment
As a patient, you are normally expected to make your own way to hospital:
Download our patient leaflet on travelling to healthcare appointments:
Patient transport services leaflet
Patient transport servicesFor those with limited mobility, local councils and voluntary organisations provide community transport:
Bristol City Council community transport North Somerset Council community transport options South Gloucestershire Council community transportTreatments we do (and don’t) fund
Because the demand for health services is always greater than the money available, we can’t fund all treatments. Treatments that are proven to meet the health needs of local people receive funding as a priority.
What we do and do not fund