One of our Young Volunteers, Daisy, shares her experience of a face to face appointment at a Hospital in London

Recently, I was offered a face to face appointment at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London. This was one of my first appointments face to face.

It was at a new hospital that I hadn’t been to, as well as it being the first day the hospital opened its clinics for face to face appointments. I was asked to come to the appointment on my own, however my mum was allowed to come due to my medical needs.

Me and my mum drove there, so we didn’t have to go on public transport and wear a mask, when we got there, we went to the parking bays, and was greeted by a courtesy transport service to take us up the hill to the outpatient department. This was essentially a golf buggy, as the hospital is specialists in orthopaedics, there are a lot of service users that have mobility problems, so it is very helpful.

Once we entered the hospital, we were greeted by a nurse and a queue of people. We joined the socially distanced queue, and both me and my mum had our temperature checked and were given hand sanitiser. We were asked some questions about COVID-19 too.

We went around to the department as directed by the nurse who greeted us. When we arrived at the waiting room, the chairs were spread apart to follow social distancing rules, and we waited for my appointment.

Nurse in PPE

During my appointment, as I needed a musculoskeletal examination, the doctor was gowned up, with a mask and gloves, and she completed the exam as normal. I did have to take my mask off for the doctor to check my palate in my mouth, but other than that my mask was on the whole time.

Overall, the appointment was very successful, even with the COVID restrictions, and if anyone has a face to face appointment coming up, please don’t worry!