Your first follow-up consultation: what to expect

After the first consultation, where the physician has set out a treatment, scheduled follow-up consultations follow. This article explains what a follow-up consultation is for, what to prepare, how to book it and what happens afterwards.

What the follow-up is for

The follow-up consultation is a medical appointment with the same physician you know from the first consultation. She reviews the treatment plan at scheduled appointments and documents every appointment.

Three legal rules matter for the follow-up:

• The state of health must be known. Medicines may only be prescribed if the patient's state of health is known (Art. 26 para. 2 HMG), and narcotics only to the extent required by the recognised rules of medical science (Art. 11 para. 1 BetmG).
• The form is time-limited. The narcotics prescription is valid for one month, and the quantity prescribed covers at most one month, or at most three months where circumstances justify it (Art. 47 para. 2 and 3 BetmKV).
• The course is recorded. For reportable treatments, the physician records pseudonymised data in the BAG's MeCanna system: right after the first prescription, after the first and the second year of treatment, and at the end of treatment if it ends earlier (Art. 8b and 18f BetmG; Art. 65b para. 3 BetmKV). More: reporting to the FOPH.

Whether the treatment is continued, adjusted or ended, and whether a further prescription is issued, is decided by the physician in the follow-up consultation. There is no entitlement to a prescription; the physician decides on the basis of the medical assessment.

What to prepare

• notes on how you have been since the last appointment, and your questions, written down,
• an up-to-date list of all the medicines you take, including those available without a prescription, with any changes since the last appointment,
• new medical reports, if you have seen other physicians in the meantime,
• planned trips, so that the physician can take them into account; for the Schengen area, see the Schengen certificate step by step,
• correspondence with your health insurer, if a cost-approval request is under way.

For the video appointment itself you need, as the first time, a quiet place, a device with a camera and a microphone, and a stable internet connection.

Questions on fitness to drive or on safety-relevant activities also belong in the follow-up consultation. Our article driving with a medical prescription explains the rules.

How to book the follow-up

There are two options, both listed on our prices page:

• A single follow-up consultation. You book one appointment at a time.
• The annual plan. It covers all follow-up consultations for one year, with the same physician.

Payment is made through a secure checkout. The booking link for the appointment follows with the order confirmation. The follow-up takes place by video or, by arrangement, in person at our practices in Zurich and Liestal, in the language agreed for your consultations: German, English or Russian.

After the follow-up

You receive written documentation of the appointment. If, where medically indicated, the physician issues a new narcotics prescription, the same routes apply as the first time: the original is handed or posted to you or, with your consent documented in writing, posted directly to a pharmacy of your choice. Sending it by e-mail, messenger service or fax is not allowed (KAV 0025, section 6.5).

You choose the pharmacy freely (Art. 26 para. 2bis let. b HMG), and it bills any medicine separately. How to read the form is explained in reading the narcotics form.

In our practice

Our physician Oxana Smagulova holds every consultation and follow-up herself. You see the same physician at every appointment, and everything you tell us is handled under Swiss data protection law and medical confidentiality.

Further reading

• Preparing for your first consultation
• Video consultations in Switzerland: the rules that apply
• Validity and quantity
• Health insurance and cost approval

This article is general information and not legal or medical advice.