Outpatient information

We run outpatients clinics across the Royal Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch hospitals.

Many of these appointments are now offered virtually as video or phone consultations. You can read more about this here.

We are also running an outpatient assessment clinic at the Dorset Health Village in the Dolphin Centre in Poole. Details of that here.

Additionally, in Dorset, our hospitals, GPs, community and mental health providers, and commissioning organisations are working together with the ambition to fundamentally change the way our outpatient services are delivered. You can read more about this exciting projecthere.

On average nationally, outpatient appointments (where a patient is referred to a hospital but not admitted) account for 85% of all hospital-based activity. Last year, nearly one million outpatient appointments took place in Dorset, which equates to approximately 15 million miles in travelling to and from hospital.

If you have been referred to any of our hospitals you will be sent an appointment letter containing information about your outpatient appointment. This will give you details of the time, date and location of your appointment.

To help us to tackle the large waiting lists caused by the Covid-19 pandemic we routinely contact patients waiting for appointments or procedures. Increasingly, this is by text message (SMS), but can also be by letter or phone call. You can find more information here.

Planning for your care and waiting times

We know how important it is for you to have your outpatient appointment as soon as possible, and here at UHD we are doing all that we can to reduce our waiting times. 

Each speciality has different waits, and to help you plan, we can advise you of the likely time between your GP referral and you being seen by the specialist. 

By reviewing the table below, you will be able to find out the average number of weeks between referral and your appointment with a specialist. This will include urgent/emergency and routine appointments. 

We can also share with you the number of weeks that 95% of our patients had to wait for their appointment in each specialty, to give you a realistic indicator. 

 An example is shown below: 

• In the Breast Specialty, the average wait between referral from GP to being seen at outpatients was seven weeks. 

• 95% of patients were seen within 10 weeks of GP referral. 

• Therefore, a patient might typically expect to wait between seven and ten weeks for their outpatient appointment. 

Data at March 2025

We encourage you to look at this information before contacting your GP or hospital for an update about any outpatient appointment you are waiting for. 

The NHS has recently launched the My Planned Care Patient Digital Platform which also gives you helpful advice and support whilst you wait.  

Outpatient clinics are held in the following locations.