Overview

Patient initiated follow-up (PIFU) empowers patients and their carers by offering them the flexibility to schedule follow-up appointments based on their individual symptoms and circumstances, rather than adhering to a set timetable.

 This helps to reduce unnecessary hospital outpatient appointments and gives patients more control of their care. PIFU can be a complex and nuanced intervention, so this page provides useful information and resources to help you implement the approach in a way that benefits both patients and rheumatology teams.

With support from the BSR advanced research funding call, Dr Laura Coates - NIHR Clinical Scientist and Senior Clinical Research Fellow at Oxford - has created a comprehensive toolkit to assist you in the roll-out of PIFU. Developed in collaboration with individuals who have with lived experience of rheumatological conditions, organisations representing the interests of people with lived experience, clinicians and researchers, this toolkit is designed for you to use within your own NHS organisation.

Find out more about this project by reading our blog.

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