Harefield outpatients
The outpatients department at Harefield Hospital organises and ensures the smooth running of all clinics. This department includes general outpatients as well as transplant outpatients.
General outpatients are referred by GPs and must then be accepted by a consultant. Once accepted as a patient, a referral letter is sent to the outpatients department where an appointment is then booked. The department will order or complete tests requested by the doctor. After a patient sees a doctor, they may be booked into a follow-up clinic.
General outpatient nursing services include a variety of tasks and tests, which may include:
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dressings
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injections
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phlebotomy
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urinalysis
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spirometry
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ECG recording
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BMI measurements
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blood pressure measurements
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oxygen saturation measurements
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peak flow measurements
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administration of medications
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liaising with other healthcare professionals
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ensuring clinics are running to time
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assisting medical staff with a variety of procedures.
The transplant outpatients department sees new patients who are being assessed for their need for a heart or lung transplant.
Following a heart or lung transplant operation, the patients are followed up regularly in the clinic. Their follow-up appointment may include a variety of specialist tests such as a cardiac biopsy for heart transplant patients.
Outpatient staffing
Nursing services in the outpatients department are provided by:
- outpatient nurses
- specialist nurses
- nurse consultants
- Macmillan nurses
- palliative care nurses
- health promotion nurses.
Cardiac rehabilitation
Cardiac rehabilitation is an evidenced-based practice at Harefield using secondary prevention measures and modification of lifestyle behaviours along with drug intervention to minimise the risk of further cardiac events and to improve symptoms in patients suffering from CHD. The service is comprehensive and interdisciplinary, involving nursing and physiotherapy assessment, cardiac risk factors identification and modification, education, support, counselling and prescribed exercise, as well as medical evaluation.
The cardiac rehabilitation team is multidisciplinary and can offer support, education, risk factor modification, secondary prevention, vocational counselling and prescribed exercise.
The team seeks to empower the patient to make informed decisions about his/her health and support the patient and family in taking responsibility for their future wellbeing by using a patient-centred, menu-based, needs-driven approach.
The Care for your Heart rehabilitation programme is broken up into phases. Harefield provides services for phases 0-III and may give patients a referral to phase IV programmes in a community setting once they have finished the hospital programme.
Read more about the Care for your Heart rehabilitation programme.