Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to raise awareness among patients of patient-initiated follow-up appointments and how the system works.

The Government is expanding the use of Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) as part of our broad package of elective reform, to ensure patients have greater choice and control, with more responsive and accessible follow up care. We have committed to offering PIFU to patients with long-term conditions as standard in all appropriate pathways by March 2026, and to increasing PIFU to at least 5% of all outpatient appointments by March 2029.

Shared decision-making is at the heart of our PIFU approach. To ensure that patients are empowered to make an informed decision, clinicians will discuss patients’ suitability and willingness to sit on a PIFU pathway. To help patients understand the process of PIFU and its aims, NHS England’s national guidance for trusts includes examples of quality communication resources to share with patients, including patient information leaflets and videos. Trusts are expected to include PIFU service details and contact information on their websites, and they should inform the patient’s general practitioner when they choose PIFU. Along with our broader reforms to enhance two-way communication between patients and their healthcare teams, we will ensure all patients can readily access information on PIFU and feel thoroughly supported to use it.