What should I expect when I go to the cystic fibrosis clinic?
Our Cystic Fibrosis service has outpatient clinics everyday of the week. These are face to face and virtual clinics. You will be given an appointment for the relevant clinic, according to your sputum results via the DrDoctor text message system and or email/ letter. Read more about outpatient services at University Hospitals Birmingham here.
If you are attending a face to face clinic, on arrival at the clinic you will need to book in at the reception desk. You will then be allocated one of our clinic rooms, where you will remain for the duration of your visit. The CF Team will come and review you in this room. This is to help prevent cross infection.
A nurse or respiratory technician will then perform a series of tests, before you see the CF team. These include height, weight, lung function, blood pressure, oxygen saturation levels and you will be asked to provide a sputum sample.
The first time you attend the cystic fibrosis clinic you should expect to be here for a couple of hours. This is to enable the consultant and CF team to spend time getting to know you and going through your current treatments. The doctor may also want to organise some routine investigations such as an x-ray and blood test.
Virtual Clinics
If you have a virtual (video) clinic appointment, you will not need to attend clinic in person. Prior to this appointment weigh yourself at home and perform home spirometry. Guidance on how to do this can be found here. You will be asked for these results during your virtual clinic appointment.
Other members of the team will be present at this appointment. If you would like to discuss anything in confidence with the doctor or any other member of the team, please let us know either before, during or at any point during the consultation and this will be arranged.
Annual Review
You will be offered a face to face annual review appointment each year or this appointment will be combined with one of your usual clinic appointments or hospital admissions . If you require an X-Ray or a scan, a separate appointment will be arranged for these.
Clinic appointments at the Adult CF Centre
Our cystic fibrosis clinic operates on an appointment system. We ask you to arrive at the clinic 10 minutes before your appointment time. If you have an unavoidable delay, please ring clinic reception on 0121 424 1693 to let us know - we realise that many people have to travel quite a distance to get to clinic. To minimise waiting time patients are seen in appointment order and not arrival time.
In order to keep our records up to date please inform the receptionist of any change of address, email address, telephone numbers, GP and next of kin. This is important information for us to have if we need to contact you.
How will I be informed I have an outpatient appointment ?
You will receive outpatient appointment letters digitally via text (and email, if available). The message will include a secure link to view and download appointment letters.
Patients who prefer paper letters can still receive appointments by post. Find out more about outpatient appointments here.
If you wish to speak to someone about booking or re-arranging a CF clinic appointment, please phone our reception on 0121 424 1693.