Knowing what will happen before your appointment and during your ongoing care can help you to think about what questions to ask and what matters to you during the process. It can be helpful to think about questions you want to ask and what is most important to you about how you live your life.
This animation from the Patients Association sets out how you can make the most of the care you receive from the health and care system.
Before your appointment – some tips and information to help you to prepare
How to get to our hospital sites
Additional support available at our hospital sites
Our Support and Information Services offer holistic support, including carers advice, listening services, health and lifestyle advice, community support groups, and assistance with complaints and other concerns.
Communication and Language needs
It is vital that our patients and staff can communicate clearly to ensure high-quality services and care. We therefore provide a range of communications support for patients.
Patients may need this support because they are visually impaired, hearing impaired, have a learning difficulty, or because English is not their first language. It may be because they need support in terms of reading (literacy problems) or they have a condition which limits their ability to communicate.
Written Information
We can provide any of our information in your chosen format or language. This includes audio, easy read, Braille, large print, British Sign Language and community languages. Just ask a member of staff or contact us on the telephone number provided on the letter or information you have received.
Use the link below for information in other languages including how to use telephone interpreting to contact us.
Interpreting Services – Spoken Languages
Patients can access the telephone interpreting service to contact any NHSGGC service.
For example, you can use the telephone interpreting service to make an appointment with your GP, discuss medications with your Pharmacy, book a Maternity appointment or contact NHS 24.
An information leaflet is available in multiple languages. It explains how to use the service by calling or by using a mobile app. It provides codes specific to NHSGGC services so can only be used for this purpose.
Please note, for any healthcare appointment, it is the responsibility of NHS Great Glasgow and Clyde staff members to provide interpreting support. Make sure that your clinician/GP knows that you need interpreting support.
Interpreting Services – British Sign Language (BSL)
NHSGGC must ensure that BSL interpreting support is provided for you when you use our services. Please make sure your Clinician/GP knows that you need interpreting support so that they can arrange this with as much notice as possible.
In addition to providing face to face interpreters, the BSL Online interpreting service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means that in an unplanned or emergency situation, staff can quickly link up to an interpreter at any time. It can also be used during hospital stays, or to enable you to communicate with staff if waiting for a face to face interpreter to arrive.
For people who are hard of hearing or who have hearing loss, we can access communication support such as lip readers and note takers.
Deafblind communicators are also available as part of our interpreting service.
Waiting for your appointment (Waiting times)
Find waiting times for planned care hospital appointments in Scotland. In using this service from NHS Scotland and Public Health Scotland you can select a health board, appointment type, and department. If you’re on a waiting list, you should be able to find this information on your letter from your health board.
Public Health Scotland provide additional information on waiting times:
Managing your health while waiting for an appointment
You may be on a waiting list to see a healthcare specialist. Further information to support your health and wellbeing during this time can be found here:
Prehabilitation (Prehab) – Getting fit and ready for treatment
What is prehabilitation?
Prehabilitation (Prehab) is about you getting fit and ready for treatment. This is done by improving your health before you start any planned treatment/surgery and helps you cope better and recover faster. You can also think of this as Rehabilitation but Prehab happens before treatment, rather than after.
Prehab and me
Although this looks at people with a cancer diagnosis, Prehab should be considered for anyone with a health condition.
An introduction to prehabilitation
Some things you can do
Setting yourself goals and having a plan in place to achieve them can help to motivate you by giving you a focus and direction, and helping you to feel productive. More information can be found here:
If you need additional support
If you would like further support, please speak to your health care professional. The Support and Information service can also help to refer you to services that can help you. Information on how to contact them can be found here:
Preparing for surgery: Find out about your pre-operative assessment and getting fit for surgery
If you require surgery you can find more information about the Pre-Operative Assessment and how to prepare for your surgery. The service will help provide the tools and support you need to ensure you have the very best outcome from your operation.
Virtual Appointments and Digital Support – helping you attend appointments from your home/community location and supporting you to get on-line
What is a virtual appointment?
Near Me enables you to attend some health care appointments from the comfort and convenience of home or other suitable location e.g. community libraries via video call. The technology is safe and secure and is being used by many of our services. Near Me is for pre-arranged appointments and your health care professional will provide you with the relevant information if a video consultation is offered.
Watch the introduction to Near Me video
Further support and information on using Near Me for virtual appointments
You can find more information and support on the Near Me website, and also information on how to use Near Me in some of our local libraries on our Digital Support page.
Near Me can also be used for virtual visiting. You can find out more on our Person Centred Virtual Visiting page.
Near Me Information Leaflets
Find out more about how to access digital support:
Some of the people you might meet when you first access our services
What is Primary Care?
Primary Care is the everyday healthcare you use first. It’s where you go when you’re unwell, need advice, or aren’t sure what help you need.
You can get Primary Care from:
- Your GP practice – for most health problems, checkups and referrals
- Your local pharmacy – for quick advice and treatment for minor illnesses
- Physiotherapists – for muscle, joint and movement problems
- Nurses and Advanced Nurse Practitioners – for assessments, treatment and advice
- Dentists – for teeth and mouth care
- Optometrists (opticians) – for eye and vision problems
- Community Links Workers – for support with wellbeing, money worries, stress, housing or loneliness
Watch this video to find out more about Primary Care
To help you feel confident in seeking the right help, we’ve highlighted some of our NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Primary Care roles.
Information for carers on help and support available if you look after someone
Find out what help and support is available if you look after someone.
Preparing for Hospital – Plan More, Stress Less
When someone becomes ill, it can be stressful. Making simple plans now can make things much easier later.
Our Plan More, Stress Less toolkit gives you:
- A short video explaining what happens if someone goes into hospital
- Easy checklists to help you get organised
- A simple plan for getting home from hospital
- Information for carers, including legal support
You don’t need to wait until someone is unwell – these tools can help you feel prepared and confident for the future.
During your appointment
It’s ok to ask – questions you can ask during your appointment to get the best our of your healthcare
It’s ok to ask questions during your appointment and it is your right to be involved as much or little as you want in decisions about your health and what treatment is right for you. You can also ask a family member or friend to attend an appointment with you.
You are encouraged to ask questions about your condition, your treatment and care options. It’s ok for you to ask your health and care professionals the “BRAN” questions which are:
- “What are the Benefits?”
- “What are the Risks?”
- “What are the Alternatives?”
- “What would happen if I did Nothing?”
Your health and care professional should explain the benefits and risk of the options available to you. They should also discuss the option of doing nothing and what effects this could have. You should expect to be given enough information and time to make up your mind.
By asking these questions you will be able to make an informed choice about the treatment and care that’s right for you.
More information can be accessed through the following:
After your appointment
Travel Expenses – information on help with travel costs
Information on hospital travel costs and help with these can be found here:
Money Advice – information on financial and practical support available
Information about hospital money advice services can be found here:
Practical and financial support is available, including home energy, emergency food on discharge, crisis cash grants, and money and debt advice.
How to share feedback on your appointment
Information on how to share your feedback can be found here:
Putting it into Action
Found some advice but not sure where to start, or how to stick to it?
Whether you’re getting ready for appointments or managing your condition on your own just now, making some changes that help us manage our condition and feel our best can be important.
You may have read something in these pages which you would like to try.
Setting a small, realistic goal (even a tiny one!) and making a simple plan for how you’ll do it can make it easier to get started and stay motivated.
It can also help to think about what might get in the way and come up with a few ideas for how you could deal with those challenges.
Where can I find out more?
You can read more about the MAP (Motivation, Action and Prompts) approach to Health Behaviour Change, including a video which outlines the MAP approach.
You can edit and print the MAP planner to help set yourself goals and create a plan to keep you on track.
