Rheumatology

About the rheumatology advice line

For urgent enquiries: contact your GP in the first instance - Know Who To Turn To.

If you require advice from a Rheumatology Nurse Specialist about your condition or treatment, there is an advice line phone clinic service. You can book an appointment for the advice line by contacting our secretarial staff. The secretarial staff will not be able to forward or answer clinical queries.

The current waiting time for an advice line appointment is around 2-3 weeks. If you have a clinic appointment scheduled within the next month, it may be appropriate to save your queries until then instead of also attending the advice line.

It is important to note that the specialist nurses are only able to address topics that directly relate to your rheumatological condition. Examples of these topics include:

• recurrent or prolonged flare-ups that do not respond to self-management techniques
• issues with your rheumatological medication such as intolerable side-effects
• referrals to the rheumatology occupational therapist, physiotherapist or rehabilitation unit

Each advice line appointment lasts up to 20 minutes. Thinking ahead about the issues that matter most to you can help ensure you get the best out of your appointment. If you have several concerns, it can be difficult to cover everything in one call as we want to ensure every patient on the call list gets their allocated time. 

For medical issues that do not relate to your rheumatological condition, please contact your GP in the first instance. The specialist nurses are unlikely to be able to assist you with non-rheumatological matters and you may experience a delay in getting help by waiting for an advice line appointment. If subsequently your GP thinks your issues should be addressed by the rheumatology service, they can get in touch with the consultants directly and save you from waiting for an advice line appointment. 

Upon calling to book an advice line slot, the secretarial staff may signpost you to another service (such as your GP) if they think your query would be better dealt with by them. This is done to ensure your concerns are addressed by the correct person and as quickly as possible.

We thank you for your understanding.

More information

Fatigue Management Pack

Ask for this on:

• phone 01463 706 556
• or phone 01463 705 443 
• or phone 01463 706 842

External resources

If you would like to talk to someone about your rheumatological condition more generally, we recommend contacting the free Arthritis UK helpline. They can be helpful in addressing complex topics such as fatigue which can be challenging to fully explore in a 20-minute advice line appointment.

See also The Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Alliance (PAPAA).