Your first appointment

Booking

Each clinic books its own appointments. Telephone numbers and email addresses are on the appointments section of the main site. When you get in touch, please give only your name and how to reach you. Medical details are not needed to book and should not be sent by email.

Paying for your care

If you have health insurance

• Contact your insurer before the appointment and ask for an authorisation number. Most insurers ask for a GP referral letter first.
• Check what your policy covers, whether there is an excess, and whether there is a limit on outpatient consultations and scans.
• Authorisation for a consultation does not cover scans, injections or surgery. Each needs to be authorised separately once it has been recommended.

If you are paying for yourself

The clinic will tell you the consultation fee when you book. Scans, injections and any operation are charged separately, and you will be given the cost in writing before you agree to any of them.

What to bring

• Your GP or physiotherapist's referral letter, if you have one.
• Your insurer's name, your membership number and the authorisation number.
• Reports of any X-rays or scans already done, and the images on a disc if you were given one. Tell the clinic in advance where they were taken, as images can often be transferred electronically.
• A list of your medication and any allergies.
• A note of your main questions and what you most want to be able to do again.

Wear or bring a vest top or loose shirt, so that the shoulder or elbow can be examined easily. You are welcome to bring someone with you, and a chaperone is available on request.

What happens

• Mr Wright will ask how the problem started, what it stops you doing and what treatment you have had.
• He will examine you. The examination is focused on what you have told him, so it concentrates on the part that is giving trouble.
• If an X-ray is needed it can usually be done at the same visit. An ultrasound or MRI scan, if required, is normally arranged for another day.
• He will explain what he thinks is wrong, what the options are, including doing nothing, and what he would advise.

You will not be asked to decide about an operation on the spot. A letter summarising the consultation is sent to you and to your GP.

Afterwards

If scans are arranged, you will be told how you will get the results. If treatment is recommended, the relevant guide on this site covers it in more detail, so you can read it in your own time. Questions that come up later can be passed on through the clinic secretary.