Preparing for your first appointment

What to bring

Bring your referral letter if you were given a copy, any imaging you have had done elsewhere — on disc or as a link, whichever the other clinic gave you — and a list of the medicines you currently take, including anything you buy without a prescription.

Writing the list down beforehand rather than relying on memory is the usual advice, and it costs nothing to do.

If you have a support person, bring them. There is no restriction on this and it is actively useful — two people remember more of a conversation than one, and the second person is often the one who thinks of the question afterwards.

How long to allow

Allow more time than the appointment itself. Parking near any clinic is unpredictable, and arriving unhurried makes a measurable difference to how much of the conversation you take in.

If you need an interpreter, say so when the appointment is made rather than on the day. Arranging one takes lead time, and an appointment where you cannot follow the conversation is not a useful appointment.

If you need to change the appointment

Contact the practice as early as you can. Earlier notice gives a clinic more opportunity to offer the time to someone else.

There is nothing to apologise for in rescheduling. It is a normal part of running a clinic and it is far better than not arriving.

A note on this page

This page carries general guidance only — the sort that holds for any specialist appointment. It says nothing about your condition, what will be assessed, or what any of it might mean, and it makes no claim about how this practice runs: how much notice it wants, what it sends afterwards and who to contact are facts only a real practice has.

This is also a fictional demonstration site, so there is no practice at the other end of it. Nothing here is medical advice.