Video consultations

You may be asked by a clinician if you would like to use our video consultation service for your next outpatient follow up appointment.

Video consultations can save you time and money as you will not need to travel to one of our clinics. The service may also benefit you if you find it difficult to travel to appointments, or feel more comfortable talking about your mental health in your own home. 

Video consultations are optional, you can still choose to attend an on-site clinic. Find out more here:

Video consulting with your NHS

Accessing our video clinic

If you have agreed to attend a video consultation appointment, you will receive a letter with and a text message if we have your mobile number, with details of your appointment, including the date and time and the name of your virtual clinic.

The invitation to the virtual clinic will be sent to you in an email.

If this is the first time you are attending a video consultation, we recommend you check and test your equipment in advance. You can practice joining the virtual waiting room at any time.

If you experience any problems while trying to connect, please view our ‘getting started’ guidance below.

Getting started

Please make sure you are sitting in a private well-lit area where you will not be disturbed.

You will need to test your device to ensure you are using the right browser, your microphone and camera are set up correctly and you have a strong internet connection. To use this service you will need:

• Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge web browser on a desktop or laptop, or on an Android tablet or smartphone
  or
• Safari web browser on an Apple iMac, MacBook, iPad, or iPhone

Click on the link within the email invitation to join the call.
When you open the link to access the video consultation, you will be asked to enter your name. This information will help us to identify you. Click ‘submit’ to proceed.

You are welcome to invite a family member, parent, friend and/or carer to sit with you throughout the video consultation.

Once signed in, please wait for our clinician to greet you. Occasionally there might be a short delay and your appointment might not run at the planned time. This might be because our clinician needs to spend a little longer with another patient. When this happens the consultant will aim to send you a message via the application. 
During the video consultation, your clinician may share their computer screen with you, to display test results, or other important information.

At the end of your video consultation, the clinician may suggest a further appointment. The next appointment may be at one of our sites or on video. Either the clinician will agree a date and time with you, or a member of our administrative team will contact you 

After you disconnect the video call, you will be asked to complete a questionnaire. We very much appreciate you spending the time to provide feedback on your experience to help us to improve our service.

Following your appointment we will send a letter with the outcome of the consultation to you and to your GP.

Security

We’re currently using the video technology Microsoft Teams (MS Teams). 

Video calls are secure. Patients have their own digital video room that only authorised clinicians can enter.

The video platform will not take a recording of your consultation.

Personal details entered at the start of video consultation will be deleted at the end of the call.

Further support and information

If you experience issues joining the video call, please contact your team using the details on the appointment letter.