Visit to our outpatient clinic
How can I get an appointment?
In our office we attend people that have been referred by a general practitioner to our practice, so you will need to bring a referral letter. This letter will then be screened by a specialist to check how urgent the patient should be seen and by which specialist. If a patient should be seen urgently the general practitioner calls the specialist. Based on the decision of the specialist the secretary calls the patient and plans the appointment. You can find the address in our contact page.
When I visit the clinic for the first time, what do I need to know?
Your first visit will take 30 minutes. We will go through your medical history, the medication that you are taking. It is crucial that you provide us with the detailed medication, otherwise we will not be able to start treatment as we need to consider interactions. After going through your history we will do a physical examination as required and plan additional investigations. The first or second visit your GP will receive a letter containing the treatment plan. Please come 20 minutes before the first appointment, as we will need time to register and prepare the file.
What are the rules to the scheduled appointments?
We have scheduled appointments. We strive to be on time always. We aim to see our patients within 30 minutes of their scheduled time. If we do not meet this time please fill in a patient survey. This will help us improve. If you are late or not able to come please call our office.
How long do I need to be followed by the specialist?
As long as you need specialist care and that differs. Some people have 1 or 2 visits just to exclude a disease or follow up after an admission. Sometimes a general practitioner asks to help treat a disease that is normally treated by GP's like hypertension or diabetes, to help get the patient on target. This will generally take a couple of weeks to months. Only people that have rare diseases or difficult to treat conditions that GP's normally do not treat will stay in the hands of a specialist for as long as the disease exists.
What if I do not show up or do not follow treatment?
We are all human and taking medications and visiting a doctor is sometimes something we forget. Your specialist will understand if you forget once or twice. If you forget a lot of times it is usually a sign that something is wrong. We as specialists usually know pretty well how a patient should react on medication, so we usually are well aware when somebody is not following treatment. If you are not following treatment we will make it a topic for discussion and will try to take away barriers to follow treatment. If it is not possible to take away barriers then the specialist might refer you back to your general practitioner or a colleague to take away the barriers, before continuing treatment.
What if I cannot connect with my specialist?
We try to match the patient to the specialist that knows most about the disease. We strive to give the best care to all our patients equally. But everybody is different and sometimes the communication between you and your doctor may not be what you expected. It is good to talk about this with your doctor. We are professionals and never will judge a patient if he or she speaks openly about his or her feelings. Actually it is important to discuss this, because it is in your interest to build a trustworthy relationship with the best specialist for your disease. It still may be possible that after discussing the subject together, that you still want to change specialists. Your specialist will then help you to find a colleague.
In our office we attend people that have been referred by a general practitioner to our practice, so you will need to bring a referral letter. This letter will then be screened by a specialist to check how urgent the patient should be seen and by which specialist. If a patient should be seen urgently the general practitioner calls the specialist. Based on the decision of the specialist the secretary calls the patient and plans the appointment. You can find the address in our contact page.
When I visit the clinic for the first time, what do I need to know?
Your first visit will take 30 minutes. We will go through your medical history, the medication that you are taking. It is crucial that you provide us with the detailed medication, otherwise we will not be able to start treatment as we need to consider interactions. After going through your history we will do a physical examination as required and plan additional investigations. The first or second visit your GP will receive a letter containing the treatment plan. Please come 20 minutes before the first appointment, as we will need time to register and prepare the file.
What are the rules to the scheduled appointments?
We have scheduled appointments. We strive to be on time always. We aim to see our patients within 30 minutes of their scheduled time. If we do not meet this time please fill in a patient survey. This will help us improve. If you are late or not able to come please call our office.
How long do I need to be followed by the specialist?
As long as you need specialist care and that differs. Some people have 1 or 2 visits just to exclude a disease or follow up after an admission. Sometimes a general practitioner asks to help treat a disease that is normally treated by GP's like hypertension or diabetes, to help get the patient on target. This will generally take a couple of weeks to months. Only people that have rare diseases or difficult to treat conditions that GP's normally do not treat will stay in the hands of a specialist for as long as the disease exists.
What if I do not show up or do not follow treatment?
We are all human and taking medications and visiting a doctor is sometimes something we forget. Your specialist will understand if you forget once or twice. If you forget a lot of times it is usually a sign that something is wrong. We as specialists usually know pretty well how a patient should react on medication, so we usually are well aware when somebody is not following treatment. If you are not following treatment we will make it a topic for discussion and will try to take away barriers to follow treatment. If it is not possible to take away barriers then the specialist might refer you back to your general practitioner or a colleague to take away the barriers, before continuing treatment.
What if I cannot connect with my specialist?
We try to match the patient to the specialist that knows most about the disease. We strive to give the best care to all our patients equally. But everybody is different and sometimes the communication between you and your doctor may not be what you expected. It is good to talk about this with your doctor. We are professionals and never will judge a patient if he or she speaks openly about his or her feelings. Actually it is important to discuss this, because it is in your interest to build a trustworthy relationship with the best specialist for your disease. It still may be possible that after discussing the subject together, that you still want to change specialists. Your specialist will then help you to find a colleague.