Preparing for your appointment

Wearing face masks at Moorfields is no longer compulsory for staff or patients, with the exception of surgery. You may still wear a mask if you want to and can ask staff to wear one when seeing you. Staff may ask you to wear one for close-up examinations.

Please attend your appointment alone if possible and arrive no more than 15 mins early to help avoid crowding in our waiting areas. If you have Covid symptoms, please do not come to your appointment; contact us and we will rearrange it with you.

Pre-operative assessment

Before the day of your operation, you will need to have a pre-operative assessment. This is a health check to make sure that you are fully prepared for your hospital admission, treatment and discharge. The assessment aims to ensure that you are fit and well prior to your operation.

When to have your pre-operative assessment

Your pre-operative assessment can take place either on the day that you are told you need surgery, or at a later date.  It cannot take place on the day of surgery itself.

If you are having your operation under local anaesthetic, the pre-op assessment can take place up to six months in advance of your surgery, depending on your general health.  If you are having your operation under a general anaesthetic, the pre-op assessment should take place one month in advance of your surgery.

What happens at your pre-operative assessment

At your pre-operative assessment, you will be:

• Given information about your procedure and whether you will need a local or general anaesthetic for your operation
• Told about anything specific you need to do before your operation, such as fasting
• Checked for any conditions or medications that might require you to take specific action prior to your operation
• Asked about your general health, current eye problems and your social situation, so that we can help you plan for your admission and discharge
• Given an opportunity to ask any questions

Please bring a list of all your current medications and any eye drops you are taking to your pre-op assessment.

After your pre-operative assessment

The results from your various tests will be reviewed and, if necessary, your GP will be contacted by letter and informed of any problems that have been identified.  If your admission date has to be cancelled because of problems identified at pre-assessment, you will be offered a new date once all further checks have been satisfactorily completed.

What to bring with you

We suggest that you bring the following items with you to your appointment:

• Your appointment letter or appointment card
• Medicines or eye drops in correctly labelled containers or a letter from your GP listing all your medication
• Glasses and contact lenses, including any cases, storage containers and solutions
• Sunglasses - some patients find these useful after they have had drops put in their eyes

Questions you might want to ask

Before you visit us, you might find it useful to think about some questions that you’d like to ask at your appointment, such as:

• Can I check that I understand what you said?
• Are there any other ways to treat my condition?
• Are there any risks or side-effects involved?
• What happens next? Do I come back and see you?
• Is there anything that I can do to help myself?

Contacts for our patients

New patients

Appointments team 020 7566 2700

Existing patients

For existing appointments, your first point of contact should be the number on your appointment letter (if you have one), or on our contact us page.

Alternatively email us, including your hospital or NHS number, on moorfields.outpatientbookingsbc@nhs.net. Please note, we are unable to answer queries for patients who attend our clinics at Croydon, Purley, Bedford, Northwick Park and Ealing through this email address. Please contact these sites directly.

Text message-based services

• Patients who have provided the booking centre with a mobile phone number will receive a text reminder of their appointment. Please help us by letting the booking centre (moorfields.outpatientbookingsbc@nhs.net or 020 7566 2357)  or a member of clinic staff know if you change your mobile phone number. 
• We will send you information about your appointments via text messages from 07860 039 092 or email from no-reply@drdoctor.co.uk. 
• We will never ask you to provide your bank or credit card details. 

Digital patient letters

• If you receive our text reminders, we will be sending you your hospital letters by text.
• This is quicker, is better for the environment and saves money.
• If you do not open any of these letters, we will automatically post a letter to you three days after texting you.
• If you prefer to receive paper letters, reply ‘PRINT’ to opt out.

Emergency care

Moorfields patients and those living in central London who require emergency eye care (sight threatening problems or eye injuries) can use our A&E Attend Anywhere service.

These video consultations will allow us to assess your condition and provide advice on whether or not you need to come into our A&E department for further checks.